i do not recall
Donald Trump Jr. doesn't remember an email he got offering him leaked documents bashing Hillary Clinton
Donald Trump Jr. has gotten emails with some very notable subject lines in the last two years, but apparently he has trouble remembering the most interesting ones. CNN reported Friday that congressional investigators are interested in an email Trump Jr. received last September that included an encryption key and link to a website with leaked emails from former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The contents of Powell's emails were published by DC Leaks, which security experts claim is connected to the Russian government, on Sept. 14, 2016. CNN initially reported the email was sent Sept. 4, 2016, but The Washington Post clarified later Friday that the missive was actually sent on Sept. 14, meaning the Trump campaign did not receive the information before it was publicly available as had been originally thought.
In the messages, Powell criticizes Hillary Clinton, then Donald Trump's presidential rival, for her handling of her private email server and said he'd "rather not have to vote for her." The emails were sent not only to Trump Jr. but also to his father, at an email account he reportedly rarely uses. Congressional investigators have been unable to verify the identity of the sender, identified in the messages as "Mike Erickson," but CNN notes that the use of a website with an encryption key that unlocks password-protected documents is consistent with the usual methods of WikiLeaks.
Trump Jr.'s attorney, Alan Futerfas, initially claimed that his client did not remember the email, but after CNN published its story he released a statement: "We do not know who Mike Erickson is. We have no idea who he is. We never responded to the email." WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange later tweeted that he did not see how WikiLeaks was connected to CNN's story.
Trump Jr. and WikiLeaks at the very least have had some interaction via Twitter. Assange sent Trump Jr. private messages using Twitter several times before and after his father was elected president to offer political advice, point out leaked documents that may have benefited the campaign, and, in one case, suggest an ambassadorship for himself. Kelly O'Meara Morales
Editor's note: Based on CNN's initial reporting, this story originally mischaracterized the date the email was sent. It has since been corrected. We regret the error.