GOP/INTELLIGENCE/RUSSIA: “The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said he would issue subpoenas if witnesses refuse to appear at a Senate hearing next week that will largely focus on a June 2016 meeting between the president’s son, top Trump campaign advisers and a group of Russian advocates.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) said that he will compel witnesses to appear at a hearing scheduled for July 26 on the topic of foreign lobbying. Mr. Grassley has summoned Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman for several months in 2016, and Donald Trump Jr. to next week’s hearing, along with sanctions activist and businessman Bill Browder and opposition researcher Glenn Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal reporter who now runs a political intelligence firm in Washington called Fusion GPS…
The committee is one of several congressional panels investigating a consensus from the U.S. intelligence community that Russia interfered in last year’s presidential election and allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow’s efforts. The president has said he’s skeptical about the finding regarding Russia, and that he and his aides didn’t engage in any election interference with it. Russia has denied it meddled in the election.
The hearing was organized after the discovery of emails showing the younger Mr. Trump had met with a Russian lawyer and a Russian American lobbyist. The lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya ‘might have information helpful to the campaign’ concerning Mr. Trump’s opponent, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, according to an email to Mr. Trump arranging the meeting. The gathering was also attended by Mr. Manafort and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, who was a top election adviser.”
-Byron Tau, “Iowa Sen. Grassley Says He Will Press Witnesses to Appear at Senate Hearing,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 20, 2017 08:17pm