U.S. Senate intelligence panel subpoenas Trump's son: sources

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The Russia probe plunged Washington into turmoil on Wednesday as Donald Trump's son reportedly was ordered to testify before a Senate panel and the White House refused to release material on investigations into the president.

A day after the top Republican in Congress called the Russia probe "case closed," Trump's conflict with his Democratic opponents escalated to new heights as a House panel voted to hold the nation's Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt for refusing to turn over key documents.

Donald Trump, Jr. speaks at a "Make America Great Again" rally in Great Falls, Montana, U.S., July 5, 2018. /Reuters Photo‍

Following a day of drama that included Trump asserting his executive privilege for the first time in his presidency, the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee took the surprise step of issuing a subpoena to Donald Trump Jr to testify as part of its investigation into Russian election interference, U.S. media reported.

It was the first known legal summons issued to a member of the president's family to force testimony in the ongoing investigation and comes after special counsel Robert Mueller declined to accuse Trump's 2016 campaign of criminal conspiracy to collude with the Russians.

Trump Jr, 41, has testified voluntarily in private once to the committee and was peppered with questions about a June 9, 2016 meeting in Trump Tower in New York that he and other campaign officials had with a Russian lawyer who had offered them dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The Trump World Tower in the Manhattan borough of New York, New York, U.S., April 30, 2019. /Reuters Photo

Committee aides would not confirm the subpoena or what they want to discuss with the president's eldest son, who currently helps run the Trump Organization.

Citing a person close to Trump Jr, The Wall Street Journal reported he had offered to answer questions in writing from the committee, and planned to fight the subpoena, which demands he testify in person.

Hours earlier, Trump made clear he would assert his executive privilege to keep Mueller's full report under wraps.

"Neither the White House nor Attorney General Barr will comply with Chairman Nadler's unlawful and reckless demands," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.

Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd stressed that Trump had moved to keep "the entirety of the subpoenaed materials" from the eyes of Congress.

For several hours in the tense judiciary hearing, lawmakers traded barbs about Barr's brazen protection of the president and the calculated effort by Democrats to punish him and gain access to key material.

Trump took to Twitter to rail about Mueller's two-year investigation.

"Treasonous hoax!" Trump boomed, a reference to a favorite complaint that the probe was an unwarranted political hit job by his opponents.

Barr defied a subpoena to turn over a complete copy of Mueller's report and the underlying evidence, and last week refused to testify before the House Judiciary Committee.

Source(s): AFP