In light of the recent scandal involving Donald Trump Jr. and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, President Trump quickly ran to his son's side to defend him, even going out of his way to justify his actions. During the 2016 campaign, Veselnitskaya contacted Trump Jr. asking to meet and sparking his interest with promises of negative information that could damage Hilary Clinton's campaign. Interested in gaining dirt on his father's opponent, he met with her.

What exactly went on in that meeting is unknown, although Trump Jr. claims that Veselnitskaya had lied about having damaging information so she could get her foot in the door and discuss her own agenda of Russian adoption. He claims the meeting was brief and ultimately a waste of time. After this encounter became known to journalists and the media, Trump Jr. released the emails leading up to his meeting with Veselnitskaya before any articles could be published.

Shortly after this, the President commended his son for being transparent and went on make the highly false and exaggerated claim that, "This is the greatest Witch Hunt in political history." Clearly and sadly, his Ivy League education failed him because he failed to recognize many other and arguably more important "Witch Hunts" that have occurred not only in the U.S. but around the globe. Of course, this defense wasn’t enough.

During a news conference with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, Trump went on to claim that his son is a "wonderful young man,” even though Donald Jr. may be younger than his father but is still nevertheless pushing forty and the same age as Macron.

President Trump is still a father, but he is also the leader of this country, and considering the ongoing investigation between Russia, his campaign, and the 2016 election, one would expect at least some light reproach towards his son’s actions instead of a full commendation and justification of this email exchange and encounter, commenting that anyone would have met with Veselnitskaya, although his statement simply refers to her as “the Russian lawyer.”

While Veselnitskaya is not an employee of the Russian government, she has a made a reputation for herself as a trusted insider of the Kremlin. The issue is not so much about Trump Jr. seeking out dirt on his father’s opponent, but rather who he was seeking it from, how the source had gained this information in the first place, and what was expected in return.