- The House Intelligence committee will interview Donald Trump Jr.next month
- The closed interview is part of its investigation into Russian election meddling
- Trump Jr. attended a June 2016 meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer
- It had been set up with the offer of dirt on Hillary Clinton
- The president’s eldest son released electronic communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
- The Senate Intelligence panel also is seeking an interview
The House Intelligence committee will interview Donald Trump Jr. as part of its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, according to two people familiar with the meeting.
The private interview with President Donald Trump’s son will be Dec. 6, they said. They were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity.
The Senate intelligence committee also hopes to interview Trump Jr. before the end of the year, according to a spokeswoman for the committee’s chairman, Republican Sen. Richard Burr.
Both committees have been investigating a meeting that Trump Jr. and other Trump campaign officials held with Russians in 2016. They are also interested in messages he exchanged during the campaign with WikiLeaks, the website that leaked emails from top Democratic officials during the campaign.
Donald Trump Jr. waves to the audience during a fundraiser for Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s campaign for governor Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017
CNN reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources with knowledge of the agreement.
Representatives for Representative Mike Conaway, the Republican leading the panel’s investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion by Trump’s campaign, and Representative Adam Schiff, the panel’s top Democrat, said they could not comment on whether Trump’s eldest son was going to appear before the committee.
Schiff told reporters that he could not comment on when or if Donald Trump Jr. might appear, but described him as a key witness. The younger Trump played a central role in his father’s campaign.
“Obviously, when Donald Trump Jr. comes before the committee there are innumerable areas that we’re going to be interested in. It’s hard to find a more central figure in this,” Schiff told reporters at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump Jr. attended a June 2016 meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer
Schiff also said he thought it would “very likely” be necessary to bring the president’s son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, to testify again before the intelligence panel.
The panel questioned Kushner behind closed doors in July.
A lawyer for Donald Trump Jr., Alan Futerfas, did not respond to a request for comment.
CNN said the meeting with lawmakers would be held next Wednesday.
The House intelligence panel is one of the three main congressional committees, as well as Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller, investigating the issue. In September, the younger Trump spoke privately with Senate Judiciary Committee staff.
The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican Senator Richard Burr, has said his panel planned to interview Donald Trump Jr. in December.
Trump’s son, who has denied any wrongdoing, met with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in New York in June 2016. Earlier this month, he released exchanges he had with the Twitter account of WikiLeaks, which released emails stolen from Democrats, during the campaign.
The House Intelligence Committee will hear on Thursday from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whose contacts with Russians during the campaign have also come under scrutiny, as well as from Erik Prince, who founded the private military contractor Blackwater and was a supporter of Trump’s presidential campaign.