Trump role in Russia meeting fallout is latest self-inflicted wound, experts say

President Trump’s inclination to take matters into his own hands is causing him unnecessary legal headaches, according to analysts who point as the most recent example to a report the president personally dictated a misleading statement issued about his eldest son’s 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer.

While legal experts say the actions, if true, wouldn’t constitute a crime, they add fuel to the fire of the ongoing special counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller, and give him room to interview additional White House officials about possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian efforts to interfere in the presidential election.

The Washington Post reported Monday that while at the G-20 Summit in Germany last month, Mr. Trump intervened as his advisers discussed how to respond to a New York Times inquiry about Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. According to the report, the president directed officials to issue a statement indicating meeting was about Russian adoptions and not about the campaign or other related issues.

The president’s son later released email correspondence that showed he took the meeting because he believed the lawyer had information from the Russian government that would compromise Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

“Assuming all this is true, the first thing that stands out is the number of people who have been exposed to the scope of the special counsel,” said Bradley Moss, an attorney who handles national security cases. “At a minimum, it’s a political issue for the president. It looks horrible.”

The Post story indicates that Hope Hicks, the White House director of strategic communications, acted as a go-between for the president and his son as the initial statement was crafted.

“She at least is going to be asked questions about the scope her involvement,” Mr. Moss said of the likelihood investigators will seek to learn more about the interactions.

Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor, said drafting a misleading statement isn’t illegal.

“Otherwise half of Washington would be in jail,” Mr. Turley quipped to C-Span on Tuesday.

But the president’s involvement could put him in legal jeopardy when it comes to the special counsel’s investigation, he said.

“There were allegations the president had already put pressure on Cabinet officials to terminate the independent investigation and in that context he then took it upon himself to personally direct how to respond to perhaps the most damaging piece of information that has come out regarding the Russia investigation. That is truly breathtaking,” Mr. Turley said. “There can be a legitimate allegation that there was an attempt to misled and the special counsel can say ’I want to know why.’”

The report caught the attention of at least one lawmaker who serves on two of the committees currently conducting parallel investigations into Russian interference.

“This will be a factor when it comes before the full committee,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a member of both the Senate intelligence and judiciary committees, told CNN on Tuesday. “If it’s true I think it is of serious concern.”

The report certainly caused headaches Tuesday for White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who pushed back against the report, saying Mr. Trump “didn’t dictate” the statement and that there was “no inaccuracy” in the initial statement that was made.

“The president weighed in, as any father would, based on the limited information he had,” Mrs. Sanders said.

She also blasted the media for being “obsessed” with the Russia story while ignoring the Clintons’ connections to Russia.

“You guys want to create a narrative that doesn’t exist,” she said.

Donald Trump Jr.’s initial statement on the meeting said, “We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow up.”

Days later, he released an email chain from June 2016 that contains correspondence between the younger Mr. Trump and Rob Goldstone, a former British journalist and Trump associate who arranged the June 9 meeting with Ms. Veselnitskaya.

One email from Mr. Goldstone states that the “Crown prosecutor of Russia” had met with a previous business partner of the elder Mr. Trump and “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,” Mr. Goldstone wrote.

• Dave Boyer contributed to this report.