Trump Jr. tells lawmakers he can't discuss conversation he had with his father

Donald Trump Jr., Donald Trump, and Ivanka Trump. — (Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

During his lengthy interview with the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, Donald Trump Jr. told the panel he couldn't discuss a conversation he had with his father this summer because of attorney-client privilege. The Trumps are not attorneys, nor are they each other's client.

Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the committee's top Democrat, said that Trump Jr. claimed there was a lawyer in the room during their discussion, so the argument counts. "I don't believe you can shield communications between individuals merely by having an attorney present," Schiff said. "That's not the purpose of attorney-client privilege."

The conversation in question came after The New York Times contacted Trump Jr. about a 2016 meeting Trump Jr. had with several Russians, including a Kremlin-linked attorney, before the election. Trump Jr.'s initial statement, which President Trump reportedly had a hand in drafting, described the meeting as being short and solely about the adoption of Russian children by Americans; it was later revealed Trump Jr. agreed to the meeting because he was promised compromising information on Hillary Clinton by the Russian government, and he was joined by former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his brother-in-law and Trump adviser, Jared Kushner.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.