Trump: Tower Meeting Meant to 'Get Information' on Clinton

President Donald Trump said Sunday that the meeting between his son, Donald Trump Jr., and a Russian lawyer in June 2016 was "to get information on an opponent," seemingly contradicting a statement from more than a year ago that the meeting focused on a Russian adoption program, NBC News reported.

"Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower," he tweeted Sunday morning. "This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics — and it went nowhere," he tweeted, defending the meeting and appearing to refer to political opposition research done by campaigns.

The president's tweets seemingly referred to reports published Saturday in the Washington Post and CNN saying Trump was concerned about his son being ensnared in the Russia investigation.

The tweet was a significant departure from a statement dictated by the president and issued by Trump Jr. last July regarding the purpose of the Trump Tower meeting between Trump Jr., campaign officials and a Kremlin-linked lawyer. The statement said the parties "discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow up. That statement added it was "a short introductory meeting."