In response to the release of the email exchange in which Donald Trump Jr. was informed of the Russian government’s effort to help his father, DNC deputy communications director Adrienne Watson released the following statement:

“Let’s be clear: Donald Trump Jr. was told in explicit terms that the Russian government wanted to help his father win the election, and he knew the information was coming from a family with close ties to Vladimir Putin. Instead of reporting this to the FBI, the President’s son said ‘I love it’ and invited the Trump campaign’s most senior aides to participate.”

“This investigation is far from over, but there is no longer any question that the Trump campaign welcomed the opportunity to collude with Russia in last year’s election.”

ADDITIONAL TAKEAWAYS:

• Donald Jr. was explicitly told that the Russian government was trying to help his father, and the information came from Emin Agalarov, the son of Aras Agalarov, a powerful Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin.

• Donald Jr. did not just speak to the publicist and Russian lawyer – the email chain makes clear that he had his own phone conversation about the Russian effort to help his father with Emin Agalarov.

• Donald Jr.’s was given details about the Russian efforts that should have disturbed any patriotic American, including the fact that Aras Agalarov was meeting with a government prosecutor in Moscow to uncover damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

• The Agalarovs are just as close to Donald Trump Sr. as they are to his son.  Their central role in this effort casts serious doubt on the White House’s claim that the President was unaware of this episode.

• Donald Jr., Manafort, and Kushner met with the Russian lawyer one floor below Donald Trump’s office in the Trump Organization’s suite, while Trump was in New York City and holding meetings at TrumpTower.

• Donald Jr. appears to have forwarded this entire email conversation to both Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner.  Is it safe to assume they knew ahead of the meeting that Russia was the source of the damaging information?

• After receiving this information, the Trump campaign stood by as the Russian interference effort unfolded and they did nothing but celebrate and encourage the Kremlin to continue – even through this last weekend, when the President appeared to give Putin a pass for the whole thing.