Donald Trump Jr to give closed-door testimony to Senate panel – live

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2019/jun/12/trump-news-today-live-democrats-republicans-sanders-biden-barr-ross

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As the day grinds into gear, here’s a little more background on Trump Jr’s expected closed door testimony.

His expected appearance comes after months of wrangling between Republicans and Democrats in the senate. The president’s son had refused to return to the senate, after his appearance in December 2017 but has now been subpoenaed by the Republican controlled committee. His testimony is expected to be limited in time and scope.

CNN first broke the news yesterday and has more background on what Trump is expected to be asked about:

The committee is interested in hearing again from Trump Jr. because of discrepancies between his testimony in 2017 and what other witnesses have told both the committee and the special counsel’s office.

Trump Jr. appeared before the Senate Intelligence, Senate Judiciary and House Intelligence Committees in 2017, and the release of the Mueller report prompted a new round questions about what Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary panel, which released a transcript of his interview.

Trump Jr. testified he only told Kushner and campaign chairman Paul Manafort ahead of time about the Trump Tower meeting in which a Russian attorney promised dirt on Hillary Clinton. But then-campaign deputy Rick Gates, who pleaded guilty in the special counsel probe, told Mueller that Trump Jr. talked about a lead on negative information about the Clinton Foundation at a campaign meeting in the days before the Trump Tower meeting.

Trump Jr.’s testimony on the Trump Tower Moscow project has also been scrutinized, in which he said he was “peripherally aware” of the project. But Mueller’s report says Cohen testified he discussed the project on multiple occasions with Trump Jr. and that the discussions were not just “idle chit chat.”

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of US politics today.

Here’s a rundown of events we’ll be covering from Washington and elsewhere around the country:

– Donald Trump Jr, the president’s oldest son, is expected to testify in a closed door hearing before the Senate intelligence committee today. The hearing is expected to be limited in time and scope, and marks his second appearance before the committee after his first one in December 2017.

– President Donald Trump is set to meet the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, at the White House early this afternoon. The pair will take questions at a joint press conference later in the day.

– The attorney general, William Barr, and treasury secretary, Wilbur Ross, face a contempt vote in the House oversight committee today, over their refusal to hand over documents relating to the 2020 census. That vote will happen this morning. We’ll bring you the news as it happens