10 things you need to know today: July 13, 2017

Trump says he 'didn't know' about son's Russia meeting, Senate Republicans prepare to unveil revised health plan, and more

Mitch McConnell talks about the GOP's health-care bill
(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

1. Trump says he 'didn't know' about son's meeting with Russian lawyer

President Trump told Reuters Wednesday that he "didn't know until a couple of days ago" that his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., had met with a Russian lawyer in June 2016, during the presidential campaign. Trump said he did not fault his son for meeting with the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, saying his son made the decision in the heat of a non-traditional campaign. "I think many people would have held the meeting," the president said. Trump Jr.'s emails indicated that he readily accepted the invitation to talk with Veselnitskaya after he was told she might have damaging information on Hillary Clinton, then Trump's Democratic opponent, that came from Moscow's effort to help Trump beat Clinton.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.