U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his eldest son as "innocent" following emails that showed Donald Trump Jr. welcomed Russian help against his father's rival in the 2016 presidential election, deepening the controversy over purported Russian meddling.
Trump Jr. released a series of emails on Tuesday that revealed he had eagerly agreed to meet a woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who might have damaging information about Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as part of Moscow's official support for his father.
Trump Jr., in a Fox News television interview later Tuesday, said: "In retrospect, I probably would have done things a little differently."
"He was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!" Trump wrote on Twitter.
The Justice Department and Congress are both investigating alleged Russian interference in the November election and any possible collusion with Trump's campaign.
Trump has said his campaign did not collude with Russia.
Legal experts said the president's son could run into trouble if investigators find he aided a criminal action, such as hacking into Democratic computer networks, or violated campaign finance laws by accepting gifts from foreign entities.
One of the president's personal attorneys, Jay Sekulow, in a round of TV interviews on Wednesday said Trump Jr.'s meeting was not a violation of the law and that the president was unaware of the meeting and the emails until recently.
The latest developments jarred financial markets on Tuesday as investors worried it was another distraction from the administration's economic agenda.
Trump Jr. told Fox News that Paul Manafort, Trump's campaign manager at the time, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, now a top White House adviser, also attended the meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who denied having Kremlin ties.
Donald Trump Agrees To Debate Kamala Harris On September 4 US Got Intel About Iranian Plot To Kill Trump Weeks Before Rally Shooting Biden Denies Reports Of 8 pm Bedtime, But Says He Needs To Pace Himself Kolkata Rape-Murder: Fractures, 150 mg Semen, Other Claims Denied By Cops Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah To Be Prosecuted In Land Scam Case CBI Team At Kolkata Hospital For Digital Mapping Of Crime Scene Ram Charan And Upasana Level Up The Twinning Game In Chic All-Black Looks Video: Man Skis Off 18,753-Foot Himalayan Cliff, Shatters World Record Court Reserves Order On Summoning Lalu Yadav, Tejashwi In Land For Job Case Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.