The Senate Judiciary Committee said Tuesday it has subpoenaed Paul Manafort after a deal to “accommodate” President Trump’s former campaign manager was not reached.
Manafort was set to appear before the panel on Wednesday to testify during a hearing on the Foreign Agents Registration Act and Attempts to Influence U.S. Elections.
Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, warned that Manafort would be subpoenaed should he not voluntary appear to testify at the public hearing.
According to Grassley and ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Manafort’s attorney told them “he would be willing to provide only a single transcribed interview to Congress, which would not be available to the judiciary committee members or staff.
“While the judiciary committee was willing to cooperate on equal terms with any other committee to accommodate Mr. Manafort’s request, ultimately that was not possible,” Grassley and Feinstein said, adding the subpoena was issued Monday night.
Manafort would have been excused from testifying in Wednesday’s hearing, the two senators said, if he would have agreed to produce documents and a transcribed interview “with the understanding that the interview would not constitute a waiver of his rights or prejudice the committee’s right to compel his testimony in the future.”
According to Politico, Manafort will meet with Senate investigators in the next 48 hours “and has agreed to provide notes of the meeting at Trump Tower last year with a Russian lawyer.” It appears those Senate investigators are part of the Senate Intelligence Committee, however.
Manafort took part in the infamous June 2016 meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who had offered dirt on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Manafort also attended the meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Kushner met with Senate Intelligence Committee members on Monday.
Trump Jr. was also scheduled to be at Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, but Grassley and Feinstein said Friday a deal had been reached with him to provide documents and be privately interviewed ahead of public testimony. The two senators also said Friday that Manafort was part of that deal, which would have prevented both Trump campaign aides from being subpoenaed by the Senate panel.
