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Trump Jr. agrees to testify again in Senate, reports say

By Nicholas Sakelaris
Donald Trump Jr. will testify behind closed doors before the Senate intelligence committee next month. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Donald Trump Jr. will testify behind closed doors before the Senate intelligence committee next month. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

May 15 (UPI) -- Against the wishes of many Republicans, Donald Trump Jr. has agreed to provide another round of testimony to the Senate intelligence committee -- and comply with a subpoena related to the Russia investigation.

President Donald Trump's eldest son agreed to be questioned by the panel next month. The agreement was reported by The Hill, CNN and The New York Times.

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One of the key questions is expected to address a 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York City, at which a Russian attorney talked about digging up dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Trump Jr. is also likely to face questions about the failed Trump Tower project in Moscow, which had been discussed months before the 2016 election.

"This compromise shows all Don wanted was for the committee to be reasonable," said White House communications aide Cliff Sims. "Demanding unlimited time and scope was absurd -- the guy already testified before Senate Intel for nine hours, after all."

Next month's hearing will be the second time Trump Jr. has spoken to lawmakers about Russia -- and many Republicans, including the president, believe it's unfair to call for more questioning now that the Mueller report has been issued. The first round of questioning involved only committee staffers, but the second round will include the panel's lawmakers.

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Trump Jr. agreed in March to provide more testimony, but twice canceled his appearance. Burr has been trying to get him in for more testimony since December.

The subpoena for Trump Jr.'s testimony was issued by intelligence committee chairman Sen. Richard Burr, who has been criticized by many in his own party.

"It's really a tough situation because my son spent, I guess, over 20 hours testifying about something that Mueller said was 100 percent OK," the president said Tuesday. "And now they want him to testify again. I don't know why. I have no idea why, but it seems very unfair to me."

Sen. Lindsey Graham said he has concerns about the president's son being recalled for testimony.

"Mueller was the final word, I thought, on Russian activity with the Trump campaign, so you're going to run into a problem as Congress of getting people to cooperate after they've been [before committees] multiple times," Graham said. "I'm just making the observation that I'm worried about where all this is headed."

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