The Senate Judiciary Committee is prepared to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort if the pair refuse to show up voluntarily at a hearing scheduled for next week.
On Wednesday, the committee invited Trump Jr. and Manafort to testify at a hearing to explore shortcomings in the Foreign Agents Registration Act. But the hearing is likely to cover the June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting that Trump Jr. set up with a Russian lawyer.
Manafort and Trump adviser Jared Kushner attended the meeting, which Trump Jr. accepted after being offered derogatory information about Hillary Clinton.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the chairman and ranking member of the committee, respectively, said that subpoenas will be issued if Trump Jr. and Manafort refuse the invitation to testify.
“We sent the letter, I don’t know whether they’ve accepted, but we sent the letter and we asked them for a voluntary appearance, and we also, I think we’ve indicated to them that — I don’t know if we said it in the letter or not — but we indicated to them, at least publicly I indicated to them that there will be a subpoena if they don’t come,” Grassley told CNN.
“We are having a hearing next Wednesday, so obviously we want to hear right away so we can get the subpoena — I hope they accept the subpoena voluntarily, but if they don’t then you have to have a marshal give it and that takes a little more time.”
In letters to Trump Jr. and Manafort, Grassley requested detailed records of any interactions with a list of Russians.
Neither Trump Jr. nor Manafort has said publicly that he will attend the hearing. A spokesman for Manafort said Wednesday that the invitation is being reviewed.
While Trump Jr.’s lawyer did not respond to requests for comment, Trump Jr. told Sean Hannity earlier this month that he is willing to discuss the Trump Tower meeting under oath.
Also invited to next week’s hearing is Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of Fusion GPS, and Bill Browder, a London-based hedge fund manager.
Fusion GPS is the opposition research firm that financed a dossier of anti-Trump research compiled last year by former British spy Christopher Steele.
It was reported last week that Simpson would likely not show up to the hearing. Grassley has threatened to issue a subpoena against Simpson to compel his appearance.
Browder, who was investigated last year by Simpson, has agreed to appear at the hearing.