NYT: Don Jr. Told Info Came from Kremlin; Senate Republicans Huddling on Health Care; Deadly Military Plane Crash
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump Jr. was told the Russian government was providing damaging information about Hillary Clinton. This in a stunning new report this morning from "The New York Times." We've got those details ahead.</s>DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: And 16 people killed in a Marine Corps plane crash in Mississippi. A huge debris field, no survivors. Many questions this morning, with the FBI on site. The latest information we have just moments away from a devastating scene in Leflore County. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.</s>ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 30 minutes exactly past the hour. Let's begin here. Up first, not only did Donald Trump Jr. meet with a Russian lawyer, there is new reporting this morning that Don Jr. was told the Russian government was directing her efforts to spread damaging information about Hillary Clinton. That is according to "The New York Times" citing three sources familiar with an e-mail sent to Trump Jr. That e-mail reportedly says the information about Clinton was part of a Kremlin effort to help the Trump campaign.</s>BRIGGS: Now, the e-mail was written by British publicist Rob Goldstone, an entertainment business associate of the Trump Sr., with connections to Moscow. Although Goldstone suggested the damaging material originated with the Russian government, there is no evidence it was related to the Russian hacking of the DNC. Now, last night, Don Jr.'s newly hired attorney dismissed this "Times" report, calling it, quote, much ado about nothing. His statement reiterating that Don Jr. didn't do anything wrong by taking the meeting and that nothing came of it.</s>ROMANS: The White House consumed on Monday by questions about this meeting. Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders insisting the campaign did not collude, describing the meeting as very short and absolutely no follow-up. Sanders had fewer answers about the White House pattern of denying any possible wrongdoing, only to backtrack and offer amended answers when presented with contrary evidence. Listen to this from this off-camera White House press briefing.</s>REPORTER: How are we to take all of these blanket denials that occurred through the transition and now when it has been proven and recognized by the president's attorney and Don Jr. that those blanket denials were not factual?</s>SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESWOMAN: Look, I think the point is that we've tried to make every single time today and then and will continue to make in those statements that there was simply no collusion, that they keep trying to make that there was.</s>BRIGGS: Sanders adds that President Trump only learned of his son's meeting with the Russian lawyer in the last few days. The president himself has been staying largely out of sight. Today, the second straight day with no public events on his schedule. CNN's Jeff Zeleny with more from the White House.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, the White House is still facing a new round of questions here over a meeting that happened in 2016 about Donald Trump Jr., the president's son, his oldest son, as well as Jared Kushner, and the former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Now, the White House spent a lot of time on Monday devoted to this question -- what happened at that meeting, what happened with that Russian lawyer they were talking to. Now, the White House wants to talk about anything but this. They wanted to turn the page on this, of course. But there's word from the Senate that they want to talk to the president's son. Take a listen to Senator Mark Warner, the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee.</s>SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA), VICE CHAIRMAN, SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: It's also a continuing pattern that we've seen since the election of Trump campaign and Trump administration officials who have conveniently forgotten meetings with Russians only when they are then presented with evidence they have to recant and acknowledge those kind of meetings. It is why we've got to continue this investigation.</s>ZELENY: Now Donald Trump Jr. has retained a New York lawyer to represent him in these matters here in Washington. It is also Jared Kushner as well as Paul Manafort. So, what this does is sort of adds more fuel to the fire, adds more questions here on what exactly were the relationships, was there any collusion at all between the Trump campaign officials and the Russian lawyer operatives here. Now, this is all going to come to a head later this week. The Senate Intelligence Committee will be meeting for the first time interviewing some Trump campaign officials -- Christine and Dave.</s>ROMANS: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you. More questions this morning about the players involved in setting up that meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and the Russian lawyer. The latest additions to a growing cast of characters, music publicist Rob Goldstone and his client, Emin Agalarov, a pop star -- a pop star who asked Goldstone to make the meeting happened. Helping us sort out who's who, senior international correspondent Matthew Chance live in Moscow. A pop star who I have not heard of but who is popular in the former Soviet republics. Walk us through the web.</s>MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I can't believe you haven't heard of him. He's massive in the former Soviet Union. His name's Emin. He sold more than a million records apparently. And, you know, he's got this sort of playboy image. You know, he's often sort of photographed with very beautiful women. And actually Donald Trump Sr., the president of the United States, before he was president of the United States, appeared in one of his pop music videos playing the role of the sort of boss like he did in "The Apprentice," saying, Emin -- pictured daydream being a beautiful woman -- Emin, I'm tired of you, you're never awake, you're fired. And that's one connection between the president and this pop star in the former Soviet Union. The main connection, though, is that the pop star's father is a guy called Aras Agalarov, and he's one of Russia's biggest property developers. He owns Moscow's biggest shopping mall, for instance. He's the man, he's the businessman who Donald Trump partnered up with to stage the 2013 Miss Universe competition in Moscow. So, this is the business relationship that Donald Trump has. Donald Trump Jr. has, as well, obviously. And which led to Rob Goldstone. The British national who is a music publicist who represents Emin sending that e-mail to Don Jr. saying, hey, can you meet with this Russian lawyer, a Russian lawyer who was closely linked with the Kremlin. The suggestion is that it was the Kremlin working through its business contacts in Russia of which obviously it has strong contacts to try and access the Trump campaign. That's, of course, an allegation and something the Kremlin denies.</s>ROMANS: Fascinating. All right. Matthew Chance, keep us abreast of the developments and players. Thank you, sir.</s>BRIGGS: Meanwhile, potential make-or-break day for Senate Republicans and their health care reform efforts. All of them back from holiday recess. They're getting their first opportunity to discuss the status of their measure to repeal and replace Obamacare. It could give us our first real idea when a new bill could emerge.</s>ROMANS: Lawmakers didn't exactly receive a warm welcome in Washington. Eighty people arrested on Capitol Hill protesting the GOP health care plan. Demonstrations breaking out in 13 different locations in House and Senate office buildings. Let's get more this morning from CNN's Ryan Nobles.</s>RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Dave and Christine, good morning from Capitol Hill. And there's no doubt that the trip that most of these senators took to their home states during the July 4th recess was not very helpful to the overall debate as it relates to this health care bill. Many of these senators getting an earful from their constituents about the progress of this bill. And that's made the debate here and the negotiations even more complicated. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell continues to offer tweaks to the bill, fixes here and there. But there are many senators, both conservative and moderate, who feel that tweaks are just not enough. Listen to what Susan Collins of Maine told me yesterday.</s>SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: I do need a complete overhaul in order to get to yes. I hope that our colleagues will take another look at the bill that Senator Cassidy and I introduced earlier this year. I'm not claiming that bill's perfect, but it provides a foundation from which we could proceed.</s>NOBLES: So, the big question is, as these senators continue to deal behind closed doors, are they making subtle fixes to their original plan, or are they doing a major rewrite? It could potentially be a combination of both. We still haven't seen this new bill. In fact, many of the senators haven't even seen this new bill. So, it's likely that the earliest that we'll see any kind of vote on health care could be sometime next week. And there are many here who wonder if even that will happen as the prospects for this current bill seem to be very bleak -- Dave and Christine.</s>BRIGGS: Seems unlikely. Ryan, thank you. Sixteen people killed when a Marine Corps plane crashed in Mississippi. The FBI is at the scene investigating. No one survived this crash. This hour, it's not clear what went wrong on the KC-130 that went down in rural Leflore County, Mississippi, late Monday afternoon. KC130, one of the military's most widely used aircraft. A local fire chief says the debris field from the crash is five miles in radius, 4,000 gallons of foam were needed to put out the fire.</s>ROMANS: All right. We'll continue to follow the developments on that story. A U.S. Army soldier arrested, accused of providing material support to ISIS. What officials say they found during a year-long investigation. We've got that next.