Trump Jr "very happy to accept" opposition research from Russian government

Rob Goldstone, the gentleman who set-up the meeting between Russian government agents and the Trump campaign, believes Mueller's interest in the meeting stems from Don Jr and other officials eagerness to accept help from a foreign power.

Via NBC News:

Asked if he had conveyed a "dirty offer" to the Trump team in brokering the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, Goldstone said, "Yes. That is true."

"That [dirt] didn't materialize," said Goldstone, but he believes the apparent willingness of campaign officials to accept dirt is what drew the scrutiny of congressional investigators and special counsel Robert Mueller.

Goldstone's account of the meeting, which he says he relayed in detail to Mueller's grand jury in March, is largely consistent with how it's been described by other participants. He says Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya talked in a meandering fashion about U.S. sanctions against Russians and the financier who lobbied for those sanctions, Bill Browder but didn't offer any information about Trump's foe in the 2016 presidential race, Hillary Clinton. He considered the Russian's presentation "complete and utter nonsense," he said.

Nonetheless, he acknowledged that the candidate's son, Donald Trump Jr., came into the room anticipating and very happy to accept "opposition research" he believed was coming from the Russian government.

Goldstone himself had promised as much, in an email to Trump Jr. saying the Russian had information that "would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father," and that it was "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr.