Donald Trump Jr. said Tuesday that he has "probably met with other people from Russia" before but not in the "context of a formalized meeting."
The president's eldest son appeared Tuesday night on Fox News to discuss the growing controversy surrounding a meeting he took with a Russian lawyer last year at Trump Tower.
"Did you ever meet with any other person from Russia that you know?" Fox News host Sean Hannity asked.
"I don't even know. I've probably met with other people from Russia, certainly not in the context of a formalized meeting or anything like that, because why would I? In the grand scheme of things, how busy we were ... this was a courtesy to an acquaintance," he said.
The New York Times has been reporting for the past three days on Trump. Jr's meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya, which he said he took with the understanding that she would provide damaging information about Hillary Clinton. On Tuesday, the Times dropped another big story: Trump Jr. was told by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone, that the information was "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump." Trump Jr. expressed enthusiasm at the prospect of getting useful information anyway.
Trump Jr. released the emails in question on Twitter on Tuesday as the Times published its latest story on the issue.
Trump Jr. added in his interview with Hannity that "in retrospect, I probably would have done things a little differently."
"This is before the Russia mania," he said. "This is before they were building it up in the press. For me, this was opposition research."