Senate panels call Trump Jr., 2 confidants

Campaign figures held meeting with Russian lawyer.

Members of the Trump campaign’s inner circle, including his eldest son and son-in-law, are being called before Senate committees next week to talk about the 2016 election.

Donald Trump Jr. is scheduled to appear July 26 before the Senate Judiciary Committee along with former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, according to a witness list released by the panel Wednesday.

Also, a lawyer for Trump’s powerful son-in-law and adviser said Jared Kushner will speak to the Senate intelligence committee Monday.

“As Mr. Kushner has been saying since March, he has been and is prepared to voluntarily cooperate and provide whatever information he has on the investigations to Congress,” said attorney Abbe Lowell. “He will continue to cooperate and appreciates the opportunity to assist in putting this matter to rest.”

That meeting will apparently take place behind closed doors.

Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for Trump Jr., did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment about his scheduled testimony. Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni said Manafort received the request Wednesday and is reading it over.

The three men will almost certainly be asked about their attendance at a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer. That gathering was arranged via emails that advertised it would reveal damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

The lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, also said Wednesday she was ready to testify before the U.S. Senate.

The meeting raised new questions about the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Moscow, which are being scrutinized by federal and congressional investigators. These questions have intensified as the identities of other Russia-connected participants have become known.

“I am ready to clarify the situation behind the mass hysteria, but only through lawyers or testifying in the Senate,” Veselnitskaya said in an interview broadcast Wednesday on Kremlin-funded RT television.

“If the Senate wishes to hear the real story, I will be happy to speak up and share everything I wanted to tell Mr. Trump,” she added.

Veselnitskaya has denied working for the Russian government. She has not responded to attempts by the Associated Press to reach her for comment.