Senate Intelligence Committee sets date for Donald Trump Jr.’s testimony

June 7, 2019

The Senate Intelligence Committee has confirmed a date for Donald Trump Jr. to testify, expected to take place in mid-June. Trump Jr. agreed to appear before the Republican-led committee in May, after receiving a congressional subpoena calling for the president’s son to return and answer questions about previous Russia-related testimony.

Trump Jr. will testify for a limited period of time — two to four hours — behind closed doors. He had previously talked to the committee in 2017. Trump Jr. was a key figure in the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer. And, according to former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, Trump Jr. was involved in discussions about the possibility of building a Trump Tower in Moscow.

Allies of President Trump have expressed irritation with Sen. Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of the committee, for issuing a subpoena to the president’s son as the GOP tries to move on from the report by special counsel Robert Mueller. The subpoena was issued the day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the question of whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to affect the 2016 election was “case closed.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a staunch supporter of Mr. Trump, told reporters in May that if he were Trump Jr.’s lawyer, “I wouldn’t put him back in this circus.”

“Mueller to me is the final word on all things Trump and Russia. The family, I think, cooperated extensively, along with the Trump campaign,” Graham said. “I admire Richard Burr. But here’s what we’ve got to realize as oversight chairmen: there’s criminal liability exposure to people who voluntarily submitted themselves to multiple investigations.”

President Trump has been more overt in his criticism of Burr. He retweeted multiple tweets slamming Burr for issuing a subpoena, and suggested that Burr’s Democratic vice chair, Sen. Mark Warner, had taken over the committee.

“Democrat Senator Mark Warner is acting and talking like he is in total control of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Their is nothing bipartisan about him. He should not be allowed to take “command” of that Committee,” Mr. Trump tweeted in late May.

Olivia Gazis contributed to this report.