Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says his committee will release all transcripts from those interviewed who attended the June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, including Donald Trump Jr.
The committee spoke with Trump Jr. in September, and in the last several months has also interviewed other participants in the Trump Tower meeting, including music promoter Rob Goldstone, Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin, U.S.-based Russian real estate company employee Ike Kaveladze, and Anatoli Samochornov, the translator for Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who answered the committee’s questions in writing.
The panel never spoke with President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, or with his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, both of whom also attended the Trump Tower meeting.
In prepared remarks at a committee markup meeting Thursday morning, Grassley offered the following information:
I had hoped to speak with all the witnesses surrounding the Trump Tower meeting before releasing any of those interview transcripts. But the Ranking Member unilaterally released the transcript of Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson. That has spooked other potential witnesses.
As a result, it looks like our chances of getting a voluntary interview with Mr. Kushner have been shot. He has already provided his account to the Intelligence Committee.
Senator Feinstein has access to the transcript as a member of that Committee, and I hope to be able to arrange to review it as well, as I have done with their interview of Mr. Manafort.
Therefore, I believe this Committee’s interviews of the witnesses surrounding the Trump Tower meeting are complete. That section of our investigation is done. So, now it’s time to start officially releasing the transcripts of all witness interviews we have done related to that meeting.
Let’s get them out there for everyone to see.
WaPo:
Kushner and Manafort have spoken with the Senate Intelligence Committee. There are three congressional committees conducting probes of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
On Thursday, Grassley said he hoped that Feinstein, who also sits on the Intelligence Committee, could broker a deal for Grassley to be able to view the transcript of that committee’s interview with Kushner, as she did with Manafort.
Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) has thus far resisted Grassley’s entreaties to share the transcript.
CNN:
Asked why the committee wouldn't subpoena Kushner, Grassley said the President's son-in-law has already spoken to a separate committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee. The comment surprised some Democrats given that committees rarely defer key witnesses to other panels.
(...)
Grassley's call to release the transcripts comes one day after two of the committee's Democrats, Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, wrote a letter to the chairman pressing for the committee to share its transcripts with special counsel Robert Mueller.
Senate panel to release interviews with Trump Jr., others involved in meeting with Russian lawyer (WaPo)
Grassley Discusses Trump Tower Interview Transcripts at Judiciary Committee Markup (Grassley website)
Judiciary chairman plans to release Donald Trump Jr. transcript (CNN)