Partisan divide imperils public congressional hearings
WASHINGTON — Prospects for public congressional hearings featuring the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and son-in-law Jared Kushner have grown increasingly uncertain.
Democrats have long sought open questioning of Trump Jr., Kushner and other top aides to President Donald Trump on their communications with Russians during last year’s campaign, saying it’s imperative for such major figures to account for their actions in public.
But Republicans who control both chambers of Congress have scheduled no such hearings and given no guarantees they’ll take place. Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr said he’s wary of turning the investigation into a “show trial.”
Congressional committees investigating Russian meddling in the election have interviewed Trump’s family members and others privately. Only a few key witnesses have testified in public, including former FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
That’s not unusual — at least at the start of congressional investigations — because lawmakers want to make witnesses comfortable with testifying and prevent them from changing their stories after hearing what others are saying. Starting behind closed doors is a strategy endorsed by some Democrats, including Representative Adam Schiff of California, his party’s top member on the House Intelligence Committee.
Depending on how the hearings are handled, lawmakers could gain partisan advantage ahead of next year’s congressional elections. Democrats would benefit from a continuing public spectacle that would draw attention to potential collusion between Trump’s family members and Russia. Republicans are eager to change the topic and focus hearings on Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic rival in the presidential race, and questions they have about the Obama administration’s approval of the sale of U.S. uranium mines to a Russianbacked company.
Among the reasons lawmakers are pursuing Trump Jr. and Kushner is a meeting they held with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower in 2016, after Trump secured the GOP nomination. Emails released by Trump Jr. show he was expecting to receive compromising information about Clinton.
Separately, Trump Jr. revealed recently that he exchanged private Twitter messages during the campaign with WikiLeaks, which was distributing stolen emails from Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta and other Democrats. The WikiLeaks disclosure prompted Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, to renew calls for a public hearing with Trump Jr.
“I am very hopeful that we will be able to have him before the committee as soon as possible,” Feinstein said. “Hopefully, the chairman will do that.”