President Trump’s oldest son will testify before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Wednesday as part of the panel’s Russian election meddling probe, according to Capitol Hill sources.
Last week, Donald Trump Jr. appeared before a closed-door session of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and refused to tell lawmakers about conversations he had with his father regarding a 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer after emails detailing the meeting had become public.
Mr. Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, attended the meeting with several Russian operatives under the impression that they might receive damaging information about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Special counsel Robert Mueller, who is also investigating the election meddling issue, has been scrutinizing the Trump Tower meeting, particularly the White House’s response after news of the gathering became public.
The White House has said the president was involved in drafting an early statement saying the meeting primarily concerned a Russian adoption program, but emails later released by Mr. Trump Jr. showed he agreed to the sit-down with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and others after he was promised dirt on his father’s rival.
After last week’s closed door House Intelligence Committee gathering, Mr. Trump Jr.’s attorney, Alan Futerfas, lashed out the “outrageous” leaks he claimed were coming out of the panel.
On Tuesday, Mr. Futerfas asked the committee to open an investigation into the leaks.
“To maintain the credibility of the investigation, this committee should determine whether any member or staff member violated the rules by leaking information to the media concerning the interview or by purposely providing inaccurate information which led to significant misreporting,” Mr. Futerfas wrote to Rep. Michael Conaway, the Texas Republican now leading the Russia probe.
A copy of the letter was obtained by The New York Times, which reported on the issue. According to the letter, Mr. Futerfas also said committee Democrats had selectively leaked details from the closed-door hearing “in an attempt to discredit my client [Mr. Trump Jr.].”
On Wednesday, investigators from the Senate Intelligence Committee will speak with the president’s oldest son in a closed-door setting.
In addition to the Trump Tower meeting, they are expected to probe numerous other difficult subjects, including Mr. Trump Jr.’s correspondence and possible relationship with the radical transparency group WikiLeaks during last year’s campaign.
WikiLeaks is seen as instrumental in sowing chaos within the Democratic National Committee after the group released thousands of emails that had been hacked from Mrs. Clinton’s campaign.
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.