The Trump-Russia scandal just got even worse for Donald Trump Jr
Donald Trump Jr has had a rather extraordinarily bad week when it comes to the Trump-Russia scandal. First he was outed by his own Russian government co-conspirator for having specifically sought dirt on Hillary Clinton, thus confirming what had long been reported about their Trump Tower meeting. Then Junior was forced to admit during his congressional testimony that he informed Hope Hicks about the meeting, an admission which essentially incriminated his own father. Now Junior is facing even more bad news in the scandal.
During his congressional testimony, Trump Jr tried invoking attorney-client privilege as an excuse for not testifying about the conversation he had with his father about the Trump-Russia scandal. This instantly became a punchline, as that’s not even close to what attorney-client privilege is. This unwittingly sent a clear signal to Special Counsel Robert Mueller about where he should focus his investigative efforts, but it was widely believed that the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee would let Junior slide in the meantime for having refused to answer the question. However, that may have just changed.
Democratic Congressman Jim Himes appeared on Meet The Press on Sunday morning and stated that his House Intel Committee may subpoena Donald Trump Jr to come back and testify about his conversation with his father after all. It’s unlikely that Himes would be publicly making such a threat if he didn’t think he could carry through with it. This suggests that a few Republicans on the committee are willing to join with the Democrats to form a majority decision on the subpoena and make it happen after all.
Meanwhile Donald Trump Jr’s admission about Hope Hicks has left her in a tough spot of her own. It’s been widely reported that she was interviewed by Robert Mueller on Friday. Did she admit to having passed along the message about Junior’s Russia meeting to Donald Trump, or did she risk getting arrested by lying about it? Stay tuned.
