President Trump’s son and his former campaign manager will face a subpoena if they don’t appear willingly before Congress, Senate Judiciary Committee leaders warned.
“We asked them for a voluntary appearance,” Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the panel, told CNN on Thursday. “I hope they accept the subpoena voluntarily, but if they don’t then you have to have a marshal give it and that takes a little more time.”
Grassley wants Donald Trump Jr., and Paul Manafort to testify about alleged ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. The request was sparked by news of a meeting with a Russian lawyer that Trump Jr. scheduled in expectation of Kremlin-provided dirt on Hillary Clinton, although the lawyer was not a Russian government employee and did not apparently provide such information.
“We are having a hearing next Wednesday, so obviously we want to hear right away,” Grassley said.
The president’s son tweeted that he is “happy to work with” the Senate Intelligence Committee in their investigation of Russian interference into the 2016 election, but it’s not clear how he and Manafort will respond to the Judiciary Committee’s request. But there is bipartisan agreement on how to respond if they decline to appear.
“If they don’t, they’ll be subpoenaed,” Calif. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the committee, said Thursday.
