Trump Jr, Manafort to testify before Senate panel
July 20, 2017
Donald Trump Jr. and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort are scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a hearing on July 26, the panel announced Wednesday.
The committee is investigating allegations Moscow tried to influence the outcome of last year's presidential election, as well as possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
The probe's focus shifted to Trump Jr. and Manafort last week following revelations they had met with a Russian lawyer in June 2016 expecting to receive damaging information about Donald Trump's election rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, told CNN that the hearing - set to begin at 10 a.m. local time (1400 UTC) - would enable the panel to begin to get testimony under oath.
"There has been an enormous amount that has been said publicly but it's not under oath, which means that people are free to omit matters or lie with relative impunity," Whitehouse said.
The Senate panel said it had requested information from both Trump Jr and Manafort, and would issue subpoenas, if necessary, to obtain that information.
Kushner appearing Monday
Meanwhile, a lawyer for President Trump's son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner, said his client was scheduled to be interviewed on Monday by the Senate intelligence committee, which is also probing Russian meddling.
"He will continue to cooperate and appreciates the opportunity to assist in putting this matter to rest," attorney Abbe Lowell said.
Kushner, who is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka, was also present at the 2016 meeting with the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya.
Earlier Wednesday, Russian media quoted Veselnitskaya as saying she was ready to provide an account to Congress "to clarify the situation behind the mass hysteria."
"If the Senate wishes to hear the real story, I will be happy to speak up and share everything I wanted to tell Mr Trump," she told Russian state-funded broadcaster RT.
Although Veselnitskaya has denied working for the Russian government, the controversial meeting has raised questions about possible ties between Trump campaign officials and Moscow.
nm/bk (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)