Two block-number phone calls that Donald Trump Jr. made ahead of a 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer to get dirt on Hillary Clinton were not with his father, CNN reported.
Citing three unnamed sources, CNN reported records provided to the Senate Intelligence Committee show the calls were between Trump Jr. and two business associates.
The reported records contradict Democrats' long-held suspicions that the blocked number was from then-candidate Donald Trump.
Trump Jr.'s phone calls involving blocked numbers have been a lingering issue as investigators looked into the meeting and whether Trump had advance knowledge of his eldest son, son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chair Paul Manafort meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.
The younger Trump's phone records include calls with two blocked phone numbers the same day he exchanged calls with Russian pop star Emin Agalarov, the son of a Russian oligarch who spearheaded the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Veselnitskaya. The calls came three days before the Trump Tower meeting.
CNN said it could not confirm the identity of the business associates who spoke with Trump Jr., nor what they discussed – and the calls' purpose was unclear. Trump Jr. lawyer Alan Futerfas declined to comment.
The Senate Intelligence Committee's two-year investigation into 2016 Russian election interference is still going on; chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., declined to comment.
Trump Jr. told congressional investigators in 2017 he did not know who the blocked calls were with, but declared he did not tell his father about the meeting or the offer of dirt on Clinton.