Get your popcorn: Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Pee Pee Tape guy are all publicly testifying next week
While the bulk of the investigation into Donald Trump’s multiple Russia scandals had been playing out behind closed doors of late, things are now suddenly being catapult back into the public eye. That’s because the Senate Judiciary Committee is about to take on two of Trump’s key Russia scandal co-conspirators, as well as one individual who tried to expose things about the Russia scandal, in public hearings.
Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort have both been called to testify in Senate Judiciary hearings next week. The two have recently been linked through their decision to both attend a meeting with the Russian government for the purpose of trying to rig the election against Hillary Clinton. The Special Counsel has cleared them both to testify before the Senate, and they’ve both previously said that they were willing to do so. While the Republicans on the committee will do whatever they want to do with their time, the Democrats will use their time to try to pressure Trump Jr. and Manafort into spilling the beans about what they were really up to. But theirs may not even be the most striking testimony of the day.
Glenn Simpson is also testifying before the Senate Judiciary next week. He’s the Fusion GPS guy who originally hired former MI6 agent Christopher Steele to investigate Donald Trump’s connections to Russia, which resulted in the “Pee Pee Tape” allegation in Trump-Russia dossier. So Simpson is essentially the man behind the Pee Pee Tape revelation, and he’ll no doubt have some interesting answers to give about how that all came to be.
There are some caveats to all of the above testimony. Because Trump Jr. and Manafort are under criminal investigation, there may be questions they’re unwilling to answer. In fact Laurence Tribe and Preet Bharara have both tweeted that their expectation that Trump Jr. may not even show up. But as the schedule now stands, all of the above people will be publicly testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday July 26th (link). For those wondering, Jared Kushner will be testifying in private due to the classified nature of it.
