Senate Judiciary Committee Releases Transcripts Of Interviews In Russia Probe
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork) - The Senate Judiciary Committee released thousands of pages of documents connected to its Russia investigation Wednesday morning.
It comes as the White House deals with questions over whether its historic summit with North Korea will happen as planned.
"We haven't been notified at all. We'll have to see," President Donald Trump said.
He wouldn't say much about whether the highly anticipated North Korea summit would actually take place.
North Korea issued a statement threatening to call off the summit, scheduled for June, if the United States insists on the North's denuclearization.
According to the president, they did not communicate with the White House.
"We haven't seen anything, we haven't heard anything. We'll have to see what happens," Trump said.
The comments come as documents were released from the Senate Judiciary Committee relating to the Russian investigation, in particular a 2016 meeting at Trump Tower.
Newly released transcripts show the Russians promised dirt on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign.
WEB EXTRA: Read The Transcripts
The meeting was coordinated in part by an associate of President Donald Trump's through the Miss Universe pageant.
Transcripts confirm some of what the people involved have already said: That Donald Trump, Jr. was open to receiving dirt on Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign.
Among the documents released: An email sent from a Russian government official to Trump, Jr. offering "official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary Clinton and her dealings with Russia that would be very useful to your father."
The email went on to say "This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump."
Within 20 minutes, Trump, Jr. responded with an email saying "If it's what you say, I love it, especially later in the summer."
Also present in the meeting was Paul Manafort, who was chairman of the Trump Campaign at the time, and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law.
Manafort and Kushner declined to be interviewed by the committee, but submitted material relevant to the investigation including notes that Manafort took on his phone. Those notes have since been printed out and included in the released documents.
Wednesday morning, Trump, Jr. responded to the document dump saying "I appreciate the opportunity to have assisted the Judiciary committee in its inquiry. The public can now see that for over five hours I answered every question asked and was candid and forthright with the committee."
The nature of the "dirt" the Russians had against Clinton was never made clear.
According to the transcript, Trump, Jr. says he did not discuss the meeting with his father.
According to testimony, the meeting wound up being about Russian sanctions, causing Manafort to pass the time scanning his cell phone, and irritating Kushner.
Trump, Jr. wound up cutting off the Russian lawyer.
Republicans say the investigation should now be left to Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
"Let Mueller figure out what happened. I don't know about phone calls, I don't know who called who. That's more about Mueller," said Sen. Lindsey Graham.
In the meanwhile, the president released his annual financial disclosure form. It confirms Trump reimbursed his then-attorney Michael Cohen, apparently connected to payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump had earlier said he was unaware Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 shortly before the election.
