Schiff: Kushner, Don Jr., Bannon Invoked 'Bogus Privileges'

News  |  Jan 4, 2019

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) says several White House advisors and associates, including Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., and Steve Bannon, claimed made-up privileges to avoid answering lawmakers' questions, and he intends to invite at least some of them back now that Democrats hold majority control. 

The Hill

“There were any number of witnesses, and [Michael Cohen] was one of them, who would simply refuse to answer questions they didn’t want to answer because they felt it might incriminate them or might incriminate others or they simply had their own reasons they wouldn’t share with the committee,” Schiff said. “Sometimes they claimed bogus privileges, in the case of Jared Kushner or Don Jr. or Steve Bannon there were claims of attorney client privilege or the White House asked me not to."

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“[Kushner] may be one of those people. He did come and testify before the committee there were a number of questions he was not willing to answer,” Schiff said, adding that he would “love” to invite Cohen back.

In November, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the timing of plans relating to efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. He also agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller's own Russia investigation, according to a plea deal released by the special counsel.

Schiff said one of the committee’s early steps would be to provide Mueller with transcripts from their witnesses to compare notes and see “whether witnesses have been truthful before Congress.”

Schiff says Kushner, Bannon invoked ‘bogus privileges’ in testimonies before Congress (The Hill)