Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort will testify on Capitol Hill next week, increasing the speculation around President Trump’s inner circle and accusations of collusion with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The younger Mr. Trump and Mr. Manafort will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee at 10 a.m. Wednesday for a public hearing, according to a committee press release issued Wednesday.
President Trump’s eldest son and his former campaign manager have recently come under scrutiny after it was revealed they held a private meeting last summer with a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, who promised compromising information about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Glenn R. Simpson of Fusion GPS is also scheduled to be a witness at the hearing. Fusion GPS was allegedly behind the anti-Trump dossier released last year.
“The Committee expects that all witness will comply voluntarily with invitations to testify,” the committee said in its press release announcing the hearing, although it went on to note that the panel’s leaders — Sens. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, and Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat — “have agreed to issue subpoenas, if necessary, for Glenn Simpson, Paul Manafort and Donald Trump Jr.”
The committee also sent letters to each witness requesting a list of documents related to their testimony to be handed over to the committee by Aug. 2.
While it remains uncertain whether all three of the witnesses will show, Mr. Grassley told reporters in Iowa he “didn’t get any pushback” from Mr. Trump Jr.’s attorney about testifying next week.
Before all eyes are on Mr. Trump and Mr. Manafort on Wednesday, Mr. Kushner will be stealing the headlines when he testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday, though that testimony will be private.
“As Mr. Kushner has been saying since March, he has been and is prepared to voluntarily cooperate and provide whatever information he has on the investigations to Congress,” said Abbe Lowell, Mr. Kushner’s lawyer. “He will continue to cooperate and appreciates the opportunity to assist in putting this matter to rest.”
The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee Sen. Mark Warner said Ms. Veselnitskaya hasn’t been invited to testify before his panel yet, but he wants to hear from her among others who attended the meeting last summer.
Ms. Veselnitskaya herself said in an interview broadcast on Wednesday that she is willing testify to the Congress.
“I am ready to clarify the situation behind the mass hysteria, but only through lawyers or testifying in the Senate,” Ms. Veselnitskaya said in an interview with RT television.
“If the Senate wishes to hear the real story, I will be happy to speak up and share everything I wanted to tell Mr. Trump,” she told the Kremlin-backed network.
Ms. Veselnitskaya has denied working for the Russian government.
Next Wednesday’s Judiciary hearing is titled, “Oversight of the Justice Department’s (Non) Enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act: Lessons from the Obama Administration and Current Compliance Practices.”
The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires people representing interests of foreign governments to disclose their relationships. Earlier this year, Mr. Manafort registered as a foreign agent for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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