Ummmmm, no. Don Trump. Jr. has claimed attorney client privilege in refusing to answer questions about a conversation he had with then Candidate Trump in 2016. There was a meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 between Donald Trump, Sr., Donald, Jr., and a lawyer. Early on, Donald, Jr. said it was a brief meeting between just the three of them. Now, it turns out there were eight folks present, including Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner. Now we know the meeting occurred only because Donald, Jr. expected to receive dirt on Hillary Clinton from Russian operatives. Donald, Jr. refused to answer questions about the meeting, citing attorney client privilege. He was appearing before the House Intelligence Committee, this week. See Politico report.

There are a few problems with his claim of attorney client privilege. First, he is not a lawyer. The attorney is bound by the attorney client privilege, not the client. The client, assuming it was Donald Jr. (but it would have been any of the eight persons in the room), can say whatever he wishes about what was said. Second, when a second person is in the room – in addition to the lawyer – then the attorney client privilege is waived. It is gone. It does not exist. If you as a client allow a second person to hear what you have to say to your lawyer, then you have waived the attorney client privilege. The point of the attorney client privilege is to ensure free flow of communication from the client to the lawyer, not the other way around. The client can share what he said to his lawyer anytime.

That Donald, Jr. would cite a bogus privilege in response to questions suggests ) he did not actually consult with a lawyer before deciding to cite the attorney client privilege, and 2) he has something to hide.