Sen. Chris Coons on Wednesday called the Donald Trump Jr. emails a "striking development," but the Democrat stopped short of calling it treason and encouraged his party peers to "take a deep breath."
"I think it's important that we all take a deep breath, continue our investigations, make sure we get the facts straight, and understand this in the broader legal context," Coons, D-Delaware, told CNN's "New Day" morning program.
Trump Jr. on Tuesday released via Twitter all the emails related to his meeting with a Russian attorney, brokered by a friend with the understanding that Natalia Veselnitskaya had dirt to peddle on Hillary Clinton that would help Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
"This is a striking development," Coons told CNN. "Just on the face of it, that forces aside all of the things that have been said by Trump campaign officials and the White House that there was no interaction with Russians that was inappropriate, there was no attempt at collusion.
"This lays all that bare because his enthusiasm for this meeting and his lack of surprise to get an email saying the Russian government was trying to help his dad win the election are both pretty striking," Coons said.
However, Coons stopped short of calling it treason, as Sen. Tim Kaine has suggested.
"I'm not there yet, but I think that's exactly why we need to have an investigation to more thoroughly understand the details of what happened and why," Coons said. "I don't disagree with Tim Kaine that that's one of the questions on all of our minds, but as a lawyer, I'm going to be careful about saying that I clearly see the elements of that charge."
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