Donald Trump Jr. is unlikely to answer questions resulting from a congressional subpoena that seeks additional testimony from him about his contacts with foreign officials during his father’s 2016 campaign for president, according to a new report.
Citing two congressional sources, Reuters reported Thursday afternoon Trump Jr. “is expected to cite his Fifth Amendment constitutional right to avoid self-incrimination.”
Reports emerged on Wednesday that the Senate Intelligence Committee had issued a subpoena for additional testimony from Trump Jr. regarding the panel’s Russia investigation.
The committee is still investigating Russia’s efforts to influence the election, including the summer 2016 Trump Tower meeting that included Trump Jr. and other campaign officials with a Russian agent offering politically damaging information on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Trump Jr. has provided nearly 30 hours of testimony to congressional committees about various matters relating to Russia.
President Trump, who last week said his administration will not comply with any congressional subpoenas and has cited executive privilege over the entire Mueller report, on Thursday told reporters he was surprised to see his eldest son was being subpoenaed.
“Frankly for my son, after being exonerated, to now get a subpoena to go again, to speak again, after close to 20 hours of telling everybody that would listen about a nothing meeting? Yeah, I’m pretty surprised,” Trump said during an event at the White House. “The last thing he needs is Washington, D.C. He would rather not ever be involved.”
[Related: Sen. Blumenthal warns Trump Jr. about ignoring subpoena: ‘Prison is the only answer’]
.@MarkWarner says his committee (Senate Intelligence) might be “the only bipartisan committee left in the Senate.”
“We’re going to stay to our duty which is get the facts out,” on Russian election interference, Warner says. pic.twitter.com/sah9k2jRFA
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) May 9, 2019
Several Republicans on Capitol Hill have criticized committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., for issuing a subpoena. Earlier this week Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared “case closed” about special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and report.
“Apparently the Republican chair of the Senate Intel Committee didn’t get the memo from the Majority Leader that this case was closed…” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., tweeted Wednesday.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the Intelligence Committee’s top Democratic member, said his panel might be “the only bipartisan committee left in the Senate.”
“We’re going to stay to our duty, which is get the facts out,” Warner said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” “My hope is that we won’t have further outside intervention, so we can finish our work.”
