Tapper: Don Jr. Statement Dictated by President Trump Was ‘So Misleading as to Be a Lie’

Last night, the Washington Post published a bombshell report that claims President Donald Trump dictated the misleading statement released by Donald Trump Jr. in response to the initial New York Times story on his meeting with a Russian lawyer. During today’s White House press briefing, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that while the president didn’t dictate the statement, he “weighed in” and did what any father would do.

Towards the top of his program this afternoon, CNN’s Jake Tapper highlighted that the cover story given by Don Jr. when the meeting was first reported on turned out to be not only misleading, but largely false. And he took issue with Sanders stating that the statement was accurate.

“To be clear, of course, the statement that Don Jr. issued that was dictated by the president, according to the Post, was misleading,” he noted. “It did not even remotely acknowledge the purpose of the meeting, which was Donald Trump Jr. wanting to meet someone billed as a Russian government lawyer with one specific purpose — to obtain dirt on Hillary Clinton.”

After saying that citizens should demand a “much higher standard of truth” from Sanders, Tapper then hit the White House for crafting the statement in the first place.

“It’s inaccurate,” Tapper stated. “It’s so misleading as to be a lie. And you as a citizen, you have every right to wonder, why would the president hide the truth and be inaccurate about this.”

He concluded, “And, as always, what does any of this have to do with making America great again?”

Watch the clip above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

—

Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com