President Donald Trump appears happy to sell out his son to protect himself, claims a Trump biographer who suggests the president's attitude on the now infamous Trump Tower meeting marks a "new low."
Michael D'Antonio, the author of Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success, wrote in an opinion piece for CNN that he believes the president's recent tweet about the meeting that took place at Trump Tower during his campaign suggests he is happy for Donald Trump Jr. to face potential prosecution, provided the president is kept out of the matter.
The president tweeted on the weekend: "Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!"
Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018
His tweet, D'Antonio suggests, was an attempt by the president to distance himself from the situation.
"Trump's tweet about the 2016 meeting reads like nothing so much as an exasperated father having to clean up the mess left by a bumbling offspring who—it turns out—is pretty bad at plying the family trade," he wrote for CNN.
It was a message that appeared to repeat Trump's previous assertions on "fake news" misreporting things and his denial on knowing about the meeting held at Trump Tower between Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Additionally, it was a message that appeared to express concern for Trump Jr.
Indeed, a source told CNN over the weekend that the president has become increasingly concerned that Trump Jr. may be caught up in the probe by special counsel Robert Mueller. The Washington Post cited an adviser who said Trump believes his son did not knowingly break the law but is concerned that he may be in dangerous legal territory.
The Mueller probe is looking into Trump Jr.'s role in organizing the Trump Tower meeting. He previously told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the president was not aware of the meetings, and also denied collusion with Russia.
However, Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, is reportedly prepared to testify that Trump did know about the meeting before it happened—with his former biographer suggesting in the CNN piece that the president would rather his son was in trouble than him.
"In apparently selling out his son, and exposing him to inevitable shame and possible prosecution, he has reached yet another new low," D'Antonio wrote. "This is appalling but not a surprise, nor does it reflect a momentary lapse. It is a reflection of the President's truest self and we should expect to see more of the same."
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