How was President Trump's eldest son fooled?

The age-old story of discord between President Donald Trump and the American press is being pushed too far, to the point of dangerous speculation.

Donald Trump Jr, the eldest son of US President Donald Trump, is remaining calm in the face of attacks from the US media and has hired a lawyer to represent him. Photo: Reuters

Mr. Donald Trump Jr. - the eldest son of the US president, has become the subject of maximum exploitation by American media that do not like his father in recent days.

It all started with emails exchanged between Trump Jr. and Rob Goldstone, the manager of a Russian singer, and an appointment with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer, as early as last June.

At this time, neither Mr. Donald Trump nor Mrs. Hillary Clinton have officially become the presidential candidates of their parties.

According to media outlets such as CNN, New York Times,... and even Reuters - a neutral news agency, Mr. Trump's son was "overjoyed" when he heard that Ms. Veselnitskaya was holding information that could "defeat" his father's opponent.

A subsequent meeting between the two sides was arranged to take place at Trump Tower headquarters in New York City.

On July 11, facing the "threat" of the New York Times to publish the entire contents of these emails to the newspaper, Trump Jr. decided to publish them on Twitter. This decision was considered wise, instead of fighting in the dark with the newspaper that did not like his father, Trump Jr. went public to prove his "cleanliness".

Trump Jr.'s actions, of course, immediately received praise from his father, but did not quell the suspicions and speculations that were being pushed too far around the suspicion of Russian interference in the US election.

"Attitude says it all"

Trump Jr.'s image has been on the top of many news outlets that dislike the Trump family, such as CNN, for the past few days. Screenshot

In the first email to Trump Jr. on June 3, 2016, Mr. Rob said he wrote the email on behalf of a mutual friend of both - Russian pop star Emin Agalarov.

For the Trump family, singer Emin and his father, real estate tycoon Aras Agalarov, are not strangers, having worked together several times in business. Tycoon Agalarov is sometimes called "Russia's Donald Trump" and has a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the New York Times.

"Emin just called and told me to contact you because he has some interesting news," Mr. Rob wrote in an email.

"The Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation met with Emin's father, Mr. Aras, this morning and during their meeting they discussed providing the Trump campaign with official information and documents that could incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia; this would be very useful for your father.

This is certainly very sensitive information, part of the Russian government's assistance to Mr. Trump, as well as Emin and Aras. What do you think is the best way to handle this information, and by the way, could you speak directly to Emin?

“It sounds like we have a little bit of that time, and if you put it that way, I would particularly prefer it later in the summer,” Mr. Trump’s eldest son replied after just 17 minutes.

The two sides continued to exchange emails over the next few days. The content was only to arrange a direct call between Trump Jr. and Emin, as well as a direct meeting between female lawyer Veselnitskaya and the eldest Trump son.

In an email dated June 7, 2016, Rob wrote: "Emin has asked me to arrange a meeting between you and a Russian government lawyer who will be flying from Moscow to the US this Thursday." The lawyer Rob was referring to was Ms. Veselnitskaya.

"Great. Paul Manafort (Trump's campaign manager - PV), my brother-in-law (Jared Kushner - PV) and I will be there," Trump Jr. replied.

And that meeting did happen. Right in Trump Jr.'s office in Trump Tower, just one floor down from Mr. Trump's campaign office.

Lacking any information or evidence about the content of the meeting, American newspapers such as CNN and the New York Times began to focus on the attitude of Mr. Trump's son, which they described as "overtly happy."

"The emails are the most convincing evidence yet that Trump campaign aides welcomed Russian help to win the US election," the New York Times firmly asserted in its July 11 article. For unknown reasons, this paragraph was later deleted.

As one commentator said, "I don't care what you said, but your enthusiasm says it all."

Protests outside the US White House demanding the arrest of Trump Jr on July 12. Photo: Reuters

Trump's son was fooled?

The meeting between the trio of Trump Jr, Kushner and Manafort with Ms. Veselnitskaya, according to insiders, "was completely meaningless."

"I was told I was going to meet someone who had information that would be useful to the campaign. I didn't even know the person's name before the meeting. After a few minutes of comfortable conversation, the woman announced that she had information that several individuals with connections to Russia were raising money for the Democratic National Committee and supporting Hillary.

What she said was vague and meaningless. No information was provided to support what she said. She clearly had no meaningful information. She then changed the subject to Russian adoptions and the Magnitsky Act.

It was then that I realized that that was exactly what she wanted to mention," Mr. Trump's son recounted 2 days ago (July 10).

Mr. Rob, the intermediary who arranged the meeting, also recounted exactly what Trump Jr. said. "That was the most nonsense I've ever heard," Mr. Rob said in disappointment.

For her part, female lawyer Veselnitskaya, in a statement sent to the New York Times, emphasized that she was not involved or represented the Russian government to "discuss any details" in the above meeting.

It seems that Trump Jr. and his campaign were badly fooled by the Russian lawyer. Mr. Rob later confirmed that she had proactively contacted Emin, asked to talk and contact the Trump campaign so that "she could promote herself."

The American press has been looking closely at the background of this resourceful lawyer. Business Insider said that Ms. Veselnitskaya has close ties to the Kremlin and is married to a former high-ranking Russian official, but they forgot one important detail. Ms. Veselnitskaya has been an active campaigner to repeal and oppose the Magnitsky Act since it was passed in 2012 under Barack Obama.

The act blacklisted Russian individuals suspected of human rights violations. Moscow was furious and decided to retaliate by banning Americans from adopting Russian children.

While things are still unclear (Trump Jr. will likely have to testify), the way the issue is being exploited and interpreted this time shows that the conflict between the Trump family and the American media is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.

According to Tuoi Tre