The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Tuesday that he would be pushing for Donald Trump Jr. and other top Trump administration officials to testify about a 2016 meeting they had with a Russian lawyer.
“These participants are all going to have to come before the committee,” Schiff said on MSNBC. “We’re going to have to try to obtain any relevant emails and documents.”
Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and then-Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort met with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer who allegedly offered them opposition research on Hillary Clinton.
Trump Jr. acknowledged that offer was made, but said no information came of it after the short meeting.
Still, Schiff said the meeting could be a “potential form of collusion,” and added that it “very well could be illegal.”
During Schiff’s appearance on MSNBC, Trump Jr. tweeted that Democrats are “extremely invested in the Russia story.”
“If this nonsense meeting is all they have after a yr, I understand the desperation!”
Media & Dems are extremely invested in the Russia story. If this nonsense meeting is all they have after a yr, I understand the desperation!
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017
But Schiff dismissed that comment, and said Trump Jr. has already had to change his story a few times.
“The evolving accounts from Don Jr. don’t inspire a lot of confidence,” Schiff said.
“This is someone who was very adamant, never had any of these meetings, never had any kind of help or offers of help, this is preposterous,” he added. “Of course, he’s had to evolve his story many times since, and I’m sure he will evolve it many times in the future. So I don’t give that a whole lot of credit.”
