The Senate Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena to President Donald Trump's eldest son, a source familiar with the matter said.
Donald Trump Jr. received the subpoena to appear before the committee as a follow-up to his prior testimony as part of the Republican-led panel's ongoing Russia probe.
A spokesperson for the committee declined to comment.
“We do not discuss the details of witness engagements with the committee,” the spokesperson said. “Throughout the investigation, the committee has reserved the right to recall witnesses for additional testimony as needed, as every witness and witness counsel has been made aware.”
Trump Jr. and his personal attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The subpoena could lead to a clash with committee Republicans. The source familiar with the matter said Donald Trump Jr. is weighing not appearing before the committee.
The news was first reported by Axios.
It is unclear exactly why the committee is seeking to interview Trump Jr. again. In February, the president’s former personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen said he briefed Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump several times about the negotiations surrounding the Trump Tower Moscow project. In public, however, Trump Jr. has downplayed his involvement in the negotiations.
Trump Jr. also came under legal scrutiny during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation for his role in a 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer who promised dirt to the Trump campaign on Hillary Clinton.
The special counsel, in the final redacted report released last month, said Trump Jr.
, Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort — the other senior Trump campaign officials in the meeting — didn’t face charges because his investigators lacked evidence to prove they took the meeting with the general knowledge they might ultimately be committing a crime.Mueller also said the promised opposition research didn’t necessarily qualify as an illegal donation.
The Mueller report also includes a mysterious redaction that hides the fallout from Trump Jr.’s refusal to participate in a voluntary interview with the special counsel. The blacked-out section has set off speculation Mueller tried to subpoena Trump Jr., or the president’s son invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
While Trump Jr.’s lawyer hasn’t commented on the matter, Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, in an interview last month tamped down talk that the redaction deals with the Fifth Amendment. “I can tell you I have no knowledge that anybody took the Fifth,” Giuliani said.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine