Watch: Damning timeline shows how Mueller could use Trump's lies about 2016 Russia meeting to prove obstruction

In 2016, key members of the Trump campaign met with Russian officials who promised them damaging information about rival Hillary Clinton -- and President Donald Trump actively tried to hide this from the public by crafting a misleading statement that the meeting was all about Russian adoption policy.

PBS' Frontline has put out a teaser video for its upcoming two-hour special on the Russia probe and it paints a damning timeline of the ways that Trump lied about the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russian officials.

In the clip, New York Times reporter Matthew Apuzzo explains how the Trump White House initially told him that it needed some time to respond to a story he was about to publish about Donald Trump Jr.'s emails setting up a meeting with a Russian agent.

"We now know that, at the front of Air Force One, Hope Hicks and President Trump are kind of working on this statement," Apuzzo says.

Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig then jumps in to express astonishment that Trump and Hicks were crafting a response to an explosive story without any input from their legal team.

"The lawyers for the president are losing their minds," she says. "They are not on Air Force One... they are hearing second-hand that a statement is about to be issued to the New York Times."

However, as Apuzzo goes on to explain, "it only takes about 24 hours for that statement to blow up" and to be revealed as false.

This misleading statement, Frontline points out, is now part of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into whether Trump obstructed justice -- and could go a long way toward proving corrupt intent.

Watch the video below.