Reprinted with permission from Shareblue.com
When he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Donald Trump Jr. didn’t tell the truth, evidence now shows. That has prompted Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) to request new testimony from Trump’s eldest son.
Trump Jr. was intimately involved in the inner workings of the Trump presidential campaign and coordinated the meeting with Russian operatives who offered campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton.
In a letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Coons wrote, “I am deeply concerned that, based on new information we learned this week, Donald Trump Jr. provided false testimony.”
He also noted that lying to Congress is “criminal,” and cited the relevant statute, 18 USC § 1001. The statute notes that a violation of the law could lead to imprisonment for up to 5 years.
Coons asks Grassley to ask Trump Jr. to testify and address his lying in front of a public hearing for the committee.
Congressional Republicans have repeatedly tried to short circuit and limit the ongoing investigations into the Trump campaign. By contrast, special counsel Robert Mueller has racked up5 guilty pleas and secured 22 indictments of Trump-related officials and figures.
When he testified before the committee, Trump Jr. repeatedly denied that foreign governments offered or provided assistance to the Trump campaign.
But they did.
George Nader, an official emissary for two princes from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, met Trump Jr. in Trump Tower three months before the presidential election.
The New York Times reports that in that meeting (arranged by Erik Prince, the mercenary brother of education secretary Betsy DeVoss), Trump Jr. was told that the princes were “eager to help his father win election as president.”
The meetings have become a part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of the Trump campaign.
In his letter, Coons notes that Trump Jr. “has not denied the occurrence of this meeting” even though it means his testimony was not truthful.
Trump Jr. has lied about what his father’s campaign was up to over and over again. But this time when he did it, he was testifying before Congress. Now, instead of crossing a moral line, the evidence shows he has crossed a legal one.
Now, Republican leaders like Grassley have to show their cards. Do they believe in the law, or protecting their fellow Republicans, more? Their track record isn’t good.
