Senate threatens to send U.S. Marshals after Donald Trump Jr.

| 7:34 pm EDT July 20, 2017
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After Donald Trump Jr. publicly expressed his willingness to testify before Congress about his role in his father’s Russia scandal, the Senate Judiciary Committee promptly called his bluff by putting him on the schedule for this upcoming Wednesday. That prompted legal experts including former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe to express skepticism on Twitter as to whether Trump Jr. would show up. But the Senate has now issued a definitive response to that scenario.

Chuck Grassley, the Republican Chairman of the committee, has largely been going along with the Russia investigation as per the wishes of the Democrats on his commitee. In the case of Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort, who are both scheduled to testify on the same day, Grassley didn’t mince words. “We sent the letter, I don’t know whether they’ve accepted,” he said. “There will be a subpoena if they don’t come” (source: CNN). He then went on to spell out that if necessary, he’ll send the U.S. Marshals after them with subpoenas.

There is little reason to expect that Paul Manafort won’t show, as he’s a seasoned and clever political veteran who’s likely looking forward to the opportunity to face off with Congress in his own defense. But Donald Trump Jr. is neither seasoned nor clever, and will probably screw up and incriminate himself and/or his father on live national television.

So in that sense Junior has no real motivation in his own right to show up and testify. Except now he’s facing the specter of U.S. Marshals hunting him down if he does fail to show up. And if he ends up being subpoenaed but still refuses to honor it, the Senate has legal grounds to have him arrested for contempt of Congress. In other words, he’ll show up to testify on Wednesday.