Twitter reacts to Donald Trump Jr's Russia emails

Twitter is abuzz following Donald Trump Jr's publication of emails showing how he agreed to meet a Kremlin-linked lawyer to discuss compromising information on Hillary Clinton, apparently offered as part of the Russian government's "support" for his father.

The emails, released on Trump Jr's Twitter shortly before they were published by the New York Times, also implicate the President's then-campaign manager Paul Manafort and his son-in-law, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, both of whom attended the meeting with lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya

Trump Jr had earlier used Twitter to double down on his earlier claims of innocence, taking a swipe at his opponents' "desperation" for evidence of Trump-Russia collusion.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Twitter pundits couldn't believe their eyes as they read the emails, in which Trump Jr arranged to meet a "Russian government lawyer" to discuss "official documents" about Clinton allegedly obtained from Russia's "crown prosecutor".

Many seized on rumours that Trump staffers nicknamed Donald Jr "Fredo", after the weakest Corleone brother in The Godfather - who, many recalled, meets a sticky end on a boat trip:

Most incredulous of all was the journalist who broke the story for the NY Times, Jared Yates Sexton:

President Trump was initially silent on the scandal engulfing his son, leading some to speculate that the Commander in Chief was keen to put some distance between himself and his firstborn.

The President finally fired off two tweets in defence of his "great" son on Tuesday evening:

Meanwhile, some conservative politicians - including the President - found it ironic that Trump Jr's voluntarily published emails had generated more outrage from Democrats than Hillary Clinton's deleted ones.