The astonishing emails posted on Twitter by Donald Trump Jr. on Tuesday display parallels with the controversial unverified leaked document from a former British spy that BuzzFeed published back in January.
President Donald Trump blasted BuzzFeed for publishing the document, which had not been confirmed by any independent source or authority. He called Buzzfeed "a failing pile of garbage" at a press conference the next day. The document had been written by ex-MI6 employee Christopher Steele, now a private security consultant.
Here is a look at how the Trump Jr. emails and the Steele documents line up:
Trump Jr.'s emails begin on June 3, 2016.
BI
Steele's first document was written on June 20, 2016.
Buzzfeed
Trump Jr.'s emails say he was being offered damaging information on Hillary Clinton from a "Russian government attorney."
Trump Jr. is invited to a meeting with a woman who is described as a "Russian government attorney" to discuss receiving documents that allegedly contained damaging info on Hillary Clinton, the soon-to-be Democratic nominee for president. The emails say:
"The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with [Emin's] father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father."
"This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump - helped along by Aras and Emin."
Steele's document also says that the Russian government has collated a file of information on Hillary Clinton:
Buzzfeed
And Steele's document then goes on to say that the Kremlin had been feeding documents about Clinton to Trump's camp:
Buzzfeed
Trump Jr. has said that he went into the meeting under the pretext of obtaining "opposition research" on Clinton, but the conversation turned into one about Russian adoptions in the US. Those involved in the meeting deny that any damaging information about Clinton was ultimately exchanged.
Trump Jr.'s emails refer to Aras Agalarov.
Trump Jr.'s emails also reference Aras Agalarov, a wealthy Azerbaijani-Russian developer who brought now-President Donald Trump's Miss Universe pageant to Moscow in 2013.
BI
Steele's document also mentions Agalarov and ties him to Trump's Russian business connections:
Buzzfeed
Trump Jr. said he released the emails today in order to be transparent about his contact with Russian sources during the election. He says nothing came of it.