Trump Jr. probably faced the most scrutiny from Mueller’s team for a June 2016 meeting he took with a Russian lawyer who was later indicted in relation to her work with Russia and who an intermediary had promised would offer “dirt on [Hillary] Clinton” delivered as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” Trump Jr. has long said the meeting—which was also attended by former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Trump son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner—didn’t result in the sharing of any fruitful information.
Theoretically, Trump Jr. might have faced charges for conspiracy against the United States if Mueller had uncovered evidence that the meeting was part of a broad effort to help Russia interfere in the 2016 election. It’s also been speculated that the meeting may have violated campaign finance laws against soliciting “anything of value” from a foreign citizen. But as election expert Richard Hasen noted in Slate earlier this year, the potential case for campaign finance charges appeared weak.
It also seemed that there might be a case to be made against Trump Jr. for lying to Congress, a charge to which Cohen had pleaded guilty in the Mueller probe. Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he did not inform his father about the Trump Tower meeting. Observers had speculated a phone call to a blocked number that Trump Jr. made shortly after receiving the email promising the Russian dirt was to his father, something he denied in his committee testimony. Last month, it was reported that the Senate Intelligence Committee had confirmed that the call was not to Trump, which would mean he did not perjure himself about that call. There were also questions about whether he could have committed perjury with his description to Congress of his “peripheral” involvement in a Trump Tower Moscow project, but it appears as though there will be no charges there, either.
