Former Rep. Trey Gowdy said on Friday that he suspects “testimonial discrepancy” is why the Senate Intelligence Committee wants to hear from Donald Trump Jr. again for its Russia investigation.
Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, said he believes Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., resorted to subpoenaing President Trump’s eldest son this week before private negotiations failed.
“The fact that Richard Burr is issuing a subpoena means the attempts to negotiate a voluntary appearance failed. I know Richard Burr pretty well. He’s not an ambitious person; he’s not running for reelection,” Gowdy said on Fox News where he is a contributor. “He’s one of the few senators not running for president. So if he’s sending a subpoena, that tells me the private negotiation for a voluntary appearance failed.”
Gowdy said the next question is what the committee seeks from Trump Jr., who already testified to the panel. The former South Carolina congressman noted that Burr said months ago that the panel has not found evidence of collusion. In addition, special counsel Robert Mueller was unable to determine criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Trump Jr. is a central figure in the Trump Tower meeting in the summer of 2016, which was predicated by a Kremlin-linked lawyer’s promise of damaging information about on Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
“You ought to be forgiven for not remembering that because it didn’t get a whole lot of play in the D.C. media. But the senate intelligence committee said long ago no criminal collusion. Richard Burr is not investigating obstruction of justice because he’s not a prosecutor,” Gowdy said. “That means two things, election security and the report that he’s yesterday to publish. And my suspicion is, there is testimonial discrepancy between witnesses. And Chairman Burr is wanting to give one of those witnesses an opportunity to clarify, amplify, otherwise correct a discrepancy. He did it with Jared Kushner, remember? Kushner came back a second time. I think that’s what Richard Burr is trying to do.”
Some Republicans, like Sen. Rand Paul, have been critical of Burr, especially after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declared this week: “Case closed.” But Gowdy was more forgiving.
With intelligence panel members expect will be complete by the fall, Gowdy said Burr likely just wants to ensure the report is “fulsome” so he is giving witnesses a chance to clear up their stories if there are any discrepancies.
