Trump apologist admits Trump Tower meeting wasn’t about ‘adoption’ — and then walks it back after commercial break

Pro-Trump Republican Jack Kingston admitted during a panel Thursday night that he didn't believe the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting was about "Russian adoption" — only to walk the claim back after the program went to commercial break.

"You don't actually believe they were meeting for an adoption program?" host Anderson Cooper asked him. "Let's just be real."

"I will agree with you," Kingston conceded — but that concession appeared to have been momentary.

Shortly after breaking for commercial, Kingston seemed to change his mind.

"I think that really was his understanding of the meeting at that time," Kingston said, referencing President Donald Trump's initial statement about the meeting between his son, son-in-law and campaign chairman and a group of Russians being about adoption.

"The president of the United States really believed the meeting was about adoption, even though anyone who knows anything about Russia knows that 'adoption' is a code word about sanctions," Cooper responded. "Even if you think it's about adoption, you know it's not about adoption, you know it's about sanctions, so why say it's about adoption?"

"I don't think adoptions is use used synonymously with sanctions," Kingston said while tripping over his words.

"Yeah, it is," Cooper quipped.

Watch the before-and-after below, via CNN.

Part 1, before the commercial break:

Part 2, after the break: