President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Thursday that he was still with the campaign when the president's son and others met with Russians at Trump Tower, but he was not invited to the meeting and did not hear about it until it was reported in the media.
"I was part of the campaign at the time," Lewandowski told CNN's "New Day" co-host Alisyn Camerota. "I was still the campaign manager, but I wasn't invited to the meeting. I didn't know about the meeting. I learned about the meeting after it was publicly reported here on CNN and other networks.
"So that was a meeting that took place in June of 2016. I was still at the campaign. It was about a week before I had left the campaign."
Lewandowski also commented Donald Trump Jr.'s refusal to tell the House Intelligence Committee what he said to his father after news outlets reported this summer on his presence at the meeting.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee's ranking Democrat, said Trump Jr. cited attorney-client privilege, which is intended to allow a client to speak to an attorney, without the lawyer being forced to testify what was discussed. However, Schiff argued that neither of the Trumps is an attorney.
"Anybody who was talking to a government official should be truthful, and what we have seen coming from this White House is that every staff person who has been asked to cooperate is cooperating," Lewandowski told Camerota.
"The president is cooperating, according to his attorney. So what I think the White House wants is a quick resolution to any type of investigation which will exonerate him and his team to further prove that there is no collusion or cooperation."
Reporting at the time said the president had dictated how he wanted his son's statement about the meeting to say it was held to discuss Russian adoptions, but Trump Jr. said he'd consulted Hope Hicks, now director of communications, while not saying if he'd spoken to his father.
"I wasn't familiar with that issue," said Lewandowski. "Obviously that took place since I left the team. But it would not be unheard of that there is an individual between the president and individual who is trying to get a statement out or approved."
However, he agreed that Trump Jr. would have had access to his father, especially since the statement came while they were returning from a long overseas trip on Air Force One.
"Of course he would have had access," said Lewandowski. "The question is, would it have been something Don Jr. wanted or needed to speak about or would he have been working with staff or other people. I just don't know the answer."
Also on the program, Lewandowski defended Trump's decision to back controversial Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore's race.
"You have one individual who wants to come to Washington and stop illegal immigration, move tax relief forward for working class families and be a pro-Second Amendment individual," said Lewandowski. "
Then we have a different individual in the race who is anti-stopping illegal immigration, wants more taxes and anti-Second Amendment. The people have to choose. It is a binary choice in Alabama."
However, he does think there's a difference between Moore and Sen. Al Franken, who is under fire for several instances of sexual improprieties.
"One has an accusation and they need to be taken very, very seriously, and the people of Alabama need to weigh if those accusations are real," said Lewandowski.
"Al Franken, there is not an accusation here. We have pictures, we have evidence and an admission of guilt that he decided it was appropriate to grope women while they were sleeping and thought it was a joke."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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