Don Jr.’s mysterious Trump Tower phone call was a conversation with…Howard Lorber?

There has been much speculation about who Donald Trump Jr. spoke to in a series of calls around the time of the infamous Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer in 2016. This is the meeting in which Don Jr. thought he would get “dirt” on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Now, new evidence obtained by Senate investigators shows at least one of the calls was a conversation with Howard Lorber, Douglas Elliman chairman and an old Trump family friend, according to reporting from the CNN and ABC News.

It is not known what was said, but Lorber has long been a supporter of President Trump, and was an economic adviser to his presidential campaign. In 1996, Lorber traveled to Moscow with Trump as they worked on a plan for a building construction, according to the New York Times. Another call to Don Jr. came from NASCAR CEO Brian France, according to ABC News.

Previously, some Congressional Democrats speculated that Don Jr. might have shared details of his meeting the lawyer with his father, then-presidential candidate, Donald Trump. Initially, Don Jr. said he couldn’t remember who he spoke to, but later denied talking to his father.

Despite the new information, House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam B. Schiff told MSNBC he still wants access to Don Jr.’s phone records. Schiff wants to see whether Don Jr. could have communicated with his father in other ways.

“Those conversations could have taken place over the phone or they could have taken place by Don Jr. walking down the hall to talk to Dad,” Schiff said

President Trump has used the latest revelations to push back against his political opponents.

“Just out: The big deal, very mysterious Don jr telephone calls, after the innocent Trump Tower meeting, that the media & Dems said were made to his father (me), were just conclusively found NOT to be made to me,” he tweeted. [CNN, ABC, NYT] — Decca Muldowney