Thread: Trump Jr. agrees to transcribed interview with Senate panel

Trump Jr. agrees to transcribed interview with Senate panel

By Manu Raju, Tom LoBianco and Pamela Brown, CNN
Updated 4:20 PM ET, Tue August 29, 2017

(CNN)President Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has agreed to sit down for a transcribed interview with the Senate judiciary committee, as investigators continue to dig into his attendance at a 2016 meeting where he was promised Russian dirt on the Clinton campaign.

After weeks of discussions, Trump Jr. has agreed on a date to be interviewed by the panel in private, according to Taylor Foy, spokesman for committee Chairman Chuck Grassley. Trump Jr. will be interviewed by senior committee staff, and senators will be invited to attend, Foy said.

After the Senate judiciary committee invited him to attend a July hearing to testify in public, Trump Jr. instead cut a deal with the committee to avoid the open session. It's unclear if he will eventually testify publicly.



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While the committee spokesman would not divulge the precise date of Trump Jr.'s attendance in private, both Grassley and ranking Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein have previously told CNN they expected him to appear before their panel as soon as September.
Alan Futerfas, who is an attorney for the younger Trump, declined to comment.

Trump Jr. has come under intense focus after press reports revealed that he met in June 2016 at Trump Tower with Russian operatives as well as the then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and the President's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Before the meeting, Trump Jr. had been promised damaging information on the Clinton campaign at that meeting and had been informed that the Russian government wanted his father to win the elections.

After Trump Jr. disclosed some of his emails about the meeting, he told Fox News host Sean Hannity nothing came out of it, saying the brief session was of little value and focused primarily on the issue of Russian adoptions. He said that he would be willing to testify before Congress on the meeting, which he considered to be standard campaign protocol to look for opposition research.

"All of it," Trump Jr. told Hannity when asked if he'd be willing to testify about everything that happened under oath.

Earlier this month, Trump Jr. turned over 250 pages of documents to the Senate judiciary committee as part of the deal that they cut.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/29/politi...ony/index.html

Special counsel subpoenas Manafort's former attorney and spokesman

By Evan Perez, CNN Justice Correspondent
Updated 4:33 PM ET, Tue August 29, 2017

Washington (CNN)Special Counsel Robert Mueller has issued subpoenas to a former lawyer for Paul Manafort and to Manafort's current spokesman, an aggressive tactic that suggests an effort to add pressure on the former Trump campaign chairman.

The subpoenas seeking documents and testimony were sent to Melissa Laurenza, an attorney with the Akin Gump law firm who until recently represented Manafort, and to Jason Maloni, who is Manafort's spokesman, according to people familiar with the matter.

Manafort is under investigation for possible tax and financial crimes, according to US officials briefed on the investigation. The allegations under investigation largely center on Manafort's work for the former ruling party in Ukraine, which was ousted amid street protests over its pro-Russian policies.


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It's unclear what specific information the Mueller investigators believe Laurenza and Maloni may have. But issuing subpoenas to a lawyer of someone under investigation is unusual, in part because it raises potential attorney-client privilege issues that prosecutors tend to try to avoid. Maloni, as a public relations representative, doesn't have the same attorney-client privilege protections.

Subpoenas have not been sent to WilmerHale, Manafort's other most recent lawyers. WilmerHale is the law firm where Mueller worked before being appointed special counsel.

Manafort has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Maloni declined to comment. A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment. Laurenza referred questions to a spokesman who didn't immediately comment.

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The subpoenas are among dozens that the Mueller investigative team has sent out in recent months since taking over the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The Manafort investigation has been ongoing for years and as recently as last summer appeared to be stagnated. At the time, Justice Department officials had come to believe there wasn't enough evidence to pursue charges, as CNN has previously reported.

The probe has taken on new life since the beginning of this year, and appears to be taking an aggressive turn under the Mueller investigators.

Andrew Weissmann, who is one of the senior lawyers overseeing the investigation, is known for aggressive tactics. Last month, the Mueller team ordered a dawn raid on Manafort's home in Washington's Virginia suburbs, as Manafort slept in his bedroom.

The financial documents retrieved were largely ones Manafort had already turned over to congressional investigators.

Manafort is now represented by Kevin Downing, a Washington lawyer and former Justice Department prosecutor who specializes in tax issues.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/29/politi...nas/index.html