Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, isn’t dismissing the idea of public testimony from Donald Trump Jr. as part of the panel’s investigation into Russian’s role in meddling with the 2016 U.S. election.
He was asked about it during an interview that will air Sunday evening on MSNBC.
“There are still a number of individuals. I mean, Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s lawyer, we want to bring him back. We want to bring Donald Trump Jr. in. He’s not testified yet,” Warner, D-Va., said, according to a snippet transcript provided by host Kasie Hunt. “I still —”
“In a public way?”, Hunt asked.
“I think it — some of these individuals, particularly Mr. Trump Jr., who’s not part of the government, we got to give a chance to have folks hear his side of the story. I still believe we need to have Mr. Kushner back before the whole committee,” Warner replied. “But these are things that the chairman and I will work through.”
Ultimately the decision will be the committee chairman’s, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. He hopes to have the investigation wrapped up by the end of February and which could mean Trump Jr., one of the key figures the panel has yet to interview, could testify in the coming weeks or months. Warner previously said Trump Jr. would not testify in November, according to Bloomberg.
Trump Jr., President Trump’s eldest child, participated in a five-hour close-door interview in September with the Senate Judiciary Committee, another congressional panel investigating Russian interference along with possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
Trump Jr. has become a person of interest after it was revealed he met with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower last year who had promised dirt on Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. At the time he said did not collude with the Russians and did not glean any damaging information on Clinton, according to his prepared statement.
In a public setting, Trump Jr. could be tasked with swearing an oath to tell the truth and would have to answer questions from Republicans and Democrats alike.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said in October that “no way of avoiding” bringing Trump Jr. back before his panel in a public setting, something which Democrats are demanding, according to CNN.
Paul Manafort, then-Trump campaign chairman, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, also attended the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower.
Manafort, along with former business associate Rick Gates, were recently indicted, as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, regarding tax issues and non-disclosures in representing foreign interests prior to the 2016 campaign. Manafort has pleaded not guilty.
Meanwhile, Roger Stone and Michael Caputo told the Washington Examiner they have raised questions as to why the testimony of fellow former Trump aide Carter Page was released, but transcripts from their own testimony is still being withheld by the House Intelligence Committee, although both men have repeatedly asked the committee to publish them. The House Intelligence Committee is yet another congressional panel looking into Russian interference.