Sean Spicer Defends Donald Trump Jr.'s Meeting With Russians

WASHINGTON, DC — White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Monday defended Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer, denying that the meeting included discussion of any topic aside from adoption policy. His comments contradicted statements made by both President Trump and Trump Jr.

“The president has made it clear through his tweet," Spicer said at an off-camera briefing in the afternoon. "And there was nothing, as far as we know, that would lead anyone to believe that there was anything except for a discussion about adoption.” (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

But the president has acknowledged that the meeting was about "opposition research." And Trump Jr. said that potentially damaging information about Hillary Clinton was discussed before and during the meeting, even though he added that no solid information came from the meeting.

Spicer also said Trump continues to have confidence in his outside counsel, Marc Kasowitz, who was caught using aggressive and apparently threatening language with a stranger over email, according to a ProPublica report. Spicer noted that Kasowitz had issued an apology.

On the topic of the president's Voter Integrity Commission, which had run into a roadblock when most states said they would not provide the private information that had been requested of them, Spicer said there had been a miscommunication.

"The commission has asked that each state provide that information that is public that they share," he said. "And because that varies from state to state, what they're willing to give out, the commission was illustrative in its letter in trying to describe what it was looking for."

Spicer did not have a direct answer about what the State Department will say in its upcoming evaluation of the Iran deal.

"I think the president, from throughout the campaign until now, has made very clear that he thinks it's a bad deal," Spicer said. "And initially he recertified it because he had the luxury of having an entire team here, both from State, DOD, NSC, to review it. That time is up and state will make its announcement very shortly."

The last time the White House held an on-camera briefing was June 29.

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Correction: This story originally reported that Sarah Huckabee Sanders will deliver the briefing. Sean Spicer was scheduled to deliver the briefing instead.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images