Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr
Richard Mauze BurrMcConnell gets GOP wake-up call Senate approves short-term debt ceiling increase End Citizens United, Let America Vote endorse Mandela Barnes, Cheri Beasley ahead of 2022 MORE’s surprise decision to subpoena Donald Trump Jr.
Don TrumpHow Trump uses fundraising emails to remain undisputed leader of the GOP Donald Trump Jr. joins Cameo Book claims Trump family members were 'inappropriately' close with Secret Service agents MORE has set off an internal fight among Senate Republicans, some of whom are now pressing the North Carolina Republican to back off the request.
These Republicans argue that Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, has spent enough time testifying before Congress and that the delivery of special counsel Robert Mueller
Robert (Bob) MuellerSenate Democrats urge Garland not to fight court order to release Trump obstruction memo Why a special counsel is guaranteed if Biden chooses Yates, Cuomo or Jones as AG Barr taps attorney investigating Russia probe origins as special counsel MORE’s report means it is time to end the investigations of the last presidential election.
“There’s no need for another subpoena for @DonaldJTrumpJr It’s time to move on & focus on issues Americans care about,” Sen. Ted Cruz
Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzMcConnell gets GOP wake-up call Equilibrium/Sustainability — Presented by Altria — Michigan leaves majority-Black city with lead-contaminated taps for three years YouTube confirms it picked kids featured in Harris video MORE (R-Texas) tweeted Thursday.
He was one of several Republicans in the House and Senate who was critical of the decision to subpoena Trump Jr., which Burr made in consultation with his panel’s ranking member, Sen. Mark Warner
Mark Robert WarnerGOP tries to take filibuster pressure off Manchin, Sinema Manchin signals he won't support filibuster carveout for debt hike Democrats insist they won't back down on debt ceiling MORE (D-Va.).
President Trump
Donald TrumpTim Scott takes in .3 million in third quarter Trump calls into Take Back Virginia Rally to hype Youngkin Overnight Defense & National Security — Partisan extremism poses 'growing problem' among veterans MORE said Thursday that he was “very surprised” by the subpoena, especially after Burr announced earlier that his panel had found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
“Frankly for my son, after being exonerated, to now get a subpoena to go again and speak again after close to 20 hours of telling everybody that would listen about a nothing meeting, yeah I’m surprised,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“I was very surprised. I saw Richard Burr saying there was no collusion two or three weeks ago,” Trump added.
Because of Burr’s comments in February to CBS News saying the panel did not “have anything that would suggest there was collusion by the Trump campaign and Russia,” Trump and his advisers were caught off guard by the Trump Jr. news.
White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney
Mick MulvaneyJan. 6 committee issues latest round of subpoenas for rally organizers The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Alibaba - To vote or not? Pelosi faces infrastructure decision Jan. 6 panel subpoenas 11, including Pierson, other rally organizers MORE told CBS News in an interview Wednesday that he thought it “bad form” that he did not get a heads-up before the subpoena was issued.
It’s not clear if Trump Jr. will comply with the subpoena, though if he doesn’t it will just further add to the tensions in Washington.
Two congressional sources told Reuters Thursday that Trump Jr. is unlikely to comply with the subpoena and could cite his Fifth Amendment constitutional right against self-incrimination. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Judiciary Committee and former U.S. attorney, argued that the president’s son could be jailed if he tries to invoke executive privilege to avoid testifying.
Some Republicans worry that Burr, who has said he will not run for another term in 2022, is giving Democrats more ammunition by calling Trump Jr. to testify a second time before the Intelligence Committee about Russia’s activities during the 2016 election.
Burr this week said he’s not pursuing a criminal investigation against Trump Jr. and defended his panel’s work during a Senate GOP lunch meeting on Thursday, explaining the repeated efforts his staff made to secure Trump Jr.’s testimony.
“I think he walked through more the series of how many efforts were made prior to this to get them to … set a time,” Sen. Roy Blunt
Roy Dean BluntMcConnell gets GOP wake-up call The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - After high drama, Senate lifts debt limit Schumer frustrates GOP, Manchin with fiery debt ceiling speech MORE (R-Mo.), a member of the Intelligence Committee, told reporters Thursday afternoon.
Asked if members of the panel had received a heads-up about the subpoena, Blunt said the committee had previously decided to give Burr and Warner “extended subpoena authority and they used it.”
Burr agreed to subpoena Trump Jr. as part of an agreement with Warner to bring back key witnesses who previously only testified to committee staff.
Warner praised Burr for not rushing the investigation to an end in the wake of the Mueller report, despite pressure from other Republicans.
“I’m very proud of the fact that we’re the only committee that’s kept bipartisan through this whole investigation. The chairman’s had pressure to shut this down for a long time, I’ve had pressure to reach a conclusion before we’re finished,” he said.
Warner repeatedly declined to comment on the subpoena Thursday morning at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast but noted the panel has reserved the right to call back witnesses to answer additional questions or address “inconsistencies.”
“I’m not going to comment on specific witnesses,” he told reporters when asked if he was confident Trump Jr. had told the truth to the committee. “I will say that we have seen literally hundreds and hundreds of witnesses and the committee has been very clear with every one that we reserve the right to bring witnesses back if we have additional questions or there’s inconsistencies.”
Sen. Marco Rubio
Marco Antonio RubioTim Scott takes in .3 million in third quarter Demings outraises Rubio with .4 million haul Rubio rakes in million for reelection bid in latest fundraising quarter MORE (R-Fla.), another member of the panel, said that colleagues had misinterpreted the committee’s work by assuming that Trump Jr. was being targeted over possible improper conduct.
“I just think there’s a fundamental misunderstanding about what the committee is focused on,” Rubio said.
“If at any point in time anything came across our information gathering that potentially could be of a criminal justice nature, that was referred to the special prosecutor. We’re not prosecutors,” he said. “I think sometimes when people read this they think we’re the same thing as the special counsel. Our role is very different.”
Rubio said the committee is not looking to ensnare Trump Jr. but instead is focused on the broader policy question of investigating Russia’s efforts to influence the election and recommend safeguards.
“We’re conducting oversight over the performance of the intelligence community in 2016, the nature of what Russia did and continues to do, what the threat is moving forward and what changes we need to make in our policies and laws to address that,” he said.
Burr told The Hill Wednesday, before news of the subpoena emerged, that he’s not trying to duplicate special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
“I’ve got reports to do, they don’t have anything to do with the Mueller report,” he said, explaining that Congress doesn’t have responsibility over criminal matters, which should be referred to the Justice Department.
Sen. John Cornyn
John CornynIs the Biden administration afraid of trade? The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - After high drama, Senate lifts debt limit Here are the 11 GOP senators who helped advance the debt extension MORE (R-Texas), another Intelligence Committee member and a member of the Senate GOP leadership team, warned that bringing Trump Jr. before the committee could inject politics into what has been so far a bipartisan investigation.
“At some point this is not about finding facts. This smacks of politics, and I think we have an important job to do to try to keep the Intelligence Committee out of politics and just keep ourselves focused on our mission, which is oversight of the intelligence community,” he said.
But other members of the panel said it made sense to bring Trump Jr. in to bring closure to an investigation that has spanned almost two years.
“I think they just wanted to get some questions straightened out, some answers straightened out based on people who came later,” Blunt said, referring to witnesses who testified after Trump Jr.
Rubio said Burr doesn’t want to leave any questions left open before filing his report, which members of his panel expect to be finished by the end of August.
“When you write a report, and you’ve gone this far and you’ve done this much work, there’s no point in not leaving nothing unchecked,” Rubio said.
Morgan Chalfant contributed.
