Caleb Burns Discusses Legal Issues Regarding Trump Jr.’s Meeting with Russian Lawyer

July 12, 2017

Caleb P. Burns, partner in Wiley Rein’s Election Law & Government Ethics Practice, was quoted in a July 11 Law360 story regarding legal issues related to Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer who indicated she had incriminating information about presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The meeting followed an email exchange, which was publicly released through a tweet by Trump Jr. after several reports surrounding the meeting had appeared in The New York Times. 

While some lawyers had indicated that the release of the emails does not clear up the matter entirely for the President’s son, they do not incriminate him either.

“Whether or not it was a good idea to take the meeting, that’s a judgment call,” said Mr. Burns. “But based on what we know now, nothing in those emails indicates a law was violated."

“I can’t imagine that these emails aren’t going to be the springboard for further investigation,” he added. “But as it stands right now, we don’t have a smoking gun. … We’ve got smoke, but not the gun.”

To read the full story, please click here (subscription required).