Don Lemon accuses Trump of trying to 'rewrite inconvenient facts' while defending son

close

Video

Lara Trump on Don Jr. subpoena: This is harassment of our family

Donald Trump Jr. subpoenaed over Russia testimony; reaction from Trump 2020 campaign senior adviser Lara Trump.

CNN host Don Lemon accused President Trump on Thursday of trying to re-write history in order to defend his son after the Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenaed him as part of the ongoing Russia investigation.

"This is all about revisionist history, keep that in mind, the President trying to rewrite inconvenient facts," Lemon said before playing a clip of Trump defending his son.

Trump, on Thursday, told reporters he was "surprised" by the committee's subpoena and that Special Counsel Robert Mueller "exonerated" his son in the investigation.

“My son is a good person. He testified for hours and hours. My son was totally exonerated by Mueller who doesn’t like Trump, me,” Trump said.

According to Lemon, that was incorrect. "This is the fact: Donald Trump Jr. was not exonerated by Robert Mueller," Lemon said. He went on to cite Mueller's report which said it would be difficult for the government to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that Trump Jr. knew his conduct was unlawful during the controversial meeting at Trump Tower.

CNN'S DON LEMON AGREES US FACES 'CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS,' VIEWS TRUMP IMPEACHMENT AS 'REMEDY'

He also disputed Trump's assertion that Mueller said there was "essentially no obstruction" on the president's part.

Mueller's report, as Lemon noted, stopped short of concluding that Trump obstructed justice but also indicated that Congress would have enough evidence to warrant continued investigation.

“If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state,” the report read.

“Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Lemon also criticized Attorney General WIlliam Barr, arguing that he misrepresented the Mueller report findings when he released his own summary of it in March.

He was referring to the fact that Mueller told the Justice Department he took issue with the way Barr presented the findings. Mueller also clarified, however, that he didn't mean to say that Barr's summary was "inaccurate."