Donald Trump Jr reaches deal to go before Senate Intel committee AGAIN after the president complains it is 'very unfair' that his son should have to testify following subpoena

  • The agreement limits testimony to two to four hours
  • It also includes a set limit of a handful of topics 
  • Deal reached after committee issued a subpoena 
  • Republican Intel chair Sen. Richard Burr told colleagues Trump Jr. backed out twice before his panel issued the subpoena  
  • Committee investigators want to ask him about the Trump Moscow tower deal and June 2016 Trump Tower meeting
  • If Trump Jr failed to comply Burr would have had to decide whether to pursue a contempt finding 
  • President Trump called the subpoena of his son 'really sad' 
  • Republican senators have blasted Burr for pursuing the matter with the president's eldest son
  • Michael Cohen testified that he briefed Trump Jr about the Moscow tower proposal about 10 times 
  • Sen. Lindsey Graham, a former Clinton impeachment manager, urged Trump Jr to ignore the subpoena

Donald Trump Jr has reached an agreement to appear once again before the Senate Intelligence Committee after his father complained that a subpoena compelling him to return 'seems very unfair.'

The deal came together Tuesday after the GOP-led committee issued an extraordinary subpoena of the president's eldest son – and after it was revealed Trump Jr failed to appear for two other agreed-upon dates.

Under the terms of the agreement, his testimony would be limited to two to four hours.

Questions would be confined to a handful of topics. 

Although it was not immediately clear what those topics would be, the panel had been pushing to ask questions about the infamous Trump Tower meeting with Russians and any knowledge Trump Jr had about a proposed Moscow Trump tower project during the campaign. 

Donald Trump Jr reached a deal to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee next month, with limitations on the amount of time he will get grilled as well as the range of topics

Donald Trump Jr reached a deal to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee next month, with limitations on the amount of time he will get grilled as well as the range of topics

The deal, first reported in the New York Times, broke hours after the president delivered his strongest defense yet of his son, after another top Republican backer urged him to take the Fifth Amendment and refuse to testify.

It also came after Senate Republicans rallied to the president's side and put pressure on their own colleague, panel chair Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican who sought to maintain a bipartisan investigative effort.  

Trump also claimed inaccurately that Mueller said what Trump Jr did was '100 per cent okay,' when in fact the Mueller report stated that the government didn't obtain information that could prove 'beyond a reasonable doubt' that participants in a Trump Tower meeting with Russians acted 'willfully.' 

'It's really a tough situation because my son spent I guess over 20 hours testifying about something that [special counsel Robert] Mueller said was 100 percent okay,' Trump told DailyMail.com as he departed the White House for Louisiana 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,' he said to a gathering of reporters. 

The president spoke after it was revealed that  Trump Jr. backed out of two scheduled interviews with the Senate Intelligence committee before the panel issued a controversial subpoena compelling him to appear. 

President Donald Trump told DailyMail.com a subpoena of Donald Trump Jr. 'seems very unfair to me'

President Donald Trump told DailyMail.com a subpoena of Donald Trump Jr. 'seems very unfair to me'

 Despite Trump's claim that Mueller found what his son did was '100 percent okay,' the Mueller report states that he and other Trump campaign officials who took a meeting with Russians in June 2016 might not have known the details on laws that prohibit accepting something of value from foreigners to help a campaign.

 Investigators 'did not obtain admissible evidence likely to meet the government’s burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that these individuals acted “willfully,” i.e. with general knowledge of the illegality of their conduct,' according to the Mueller report. 

'Second, the government would likely encounter difficulty proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the value of the promised information exceeded the threshold for a criminal violation – a reference to the dirt on Hillary Clinton that a Donald Trump associate offered as coming from the government of Russia. 

The office 'has not developed evidence that the participants in the meeting were familiar with the foreign-contribution ban or the application of federal law to the relevant factual context,' according to the report.   

The president's eldest son, who runs the Trump Organization along with Eric Trump and an executive, had been negotiating for months about providing additional testimony, Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina told fellow Republicans last week.

Burr was under intense fire after news of the subpoena – the first of a Trump family member – broke last week. 

Now, amid a standoff that President Trump has termed 'really sad,' Trump Jr. could ultimately agree to provide answers in writing, CNN reported. 

That is a tactic President Trump's lawyers were able to negotiate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators. However Democrats in Congress noted how Trump and his lawyers repeatedly crafted answers where he said he did not recall the answers to key questions.

Also, presidents historically have pushed to be able to provide written answers in such situations due to their responsibilities running the country.  

Burr told his Republican colleagues of the pair of cancelled appearances last week as he tried to stem mounting criticism from Republicans of the move.

Burr outlined the events at a GOP caucus luncheon Thursday after weathering fierce criticism, according to three people familiar with the remarks.  

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, signed off on the subpoena, injecting a new source of tension into the relationship between Congress and the White House

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, signed off on the subpoena, injecting a new source of tension into the relationship between Congress and the White House

The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr. in connection with its Russia investigation, a probe that has run parallel to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's

The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr. in connection with its Russia investigation, a probe that has run parallel to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's

President Trump says a GOP senator's subpoena for testimony from Donald Trump, Jr. came as a surprise

Burr told colleagues that Trump Jr. had twice voluntarily agreed to interviews and later backed out. The committee had been in negotiations with Trump Jr. since December and had scheduled the interviews for March and April, according to one of the people familiar with his remarks.

Senators on the committee want to go over answers Trump Jr. gave the panel's staff in a 2017 interview and ask further questions. It's the first known subpoena of a member of the president's immediate family, and news of the move prompted strong words from Burr's Republican colleagues, including some who went as far as to say they thought Trump Jr. shouldn't comply.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who is up for reelection in 2020, tweeted, 'It's time to move on & start focusing on issues that matter to Americans.' 

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a GOP member of the panel and the Republican whip, said he understood Trump Jr.'s frustration. Cornyn's Texas colleague, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, said there was 'no need' for the subpoena.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a former Clinton impeachment manager, urged Trump Jr to ignore the subpoena. 

Burr has been under fire by Republican Senate colleagues who have rallied around the president's son

Burr has been under fire by Republican Senate colleagues who have rallied around the president's son

One topic the panel has further questions about involves the infamous Trump Tower 2016 meeting with Kremlin-linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who is up for reelection in 2020 and who represents the same state is Burr, tweeted, 'It's time to move on & start focusing on issues that matter to Americans.'

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who is up for reelection in 2020 and who represents the same state is Burr, tweeted, 'It's time to move on & start focusing on issues that matter to Americans.'

Trump lawyer Michael Cohen testified he spoke to Trump Jr about a Moscow tower project about 10 times. Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee in a separate interview in 2017 he was only 'peripherally aware' of the proposal

Trump lawyer Michael Cohen testified he spoke to Trump Jr about a Moscow tower project about 10 times. Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee in a separate interview in 2017 he was only 'peripherally aware' of the proposal

Graham, the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman from South Carolina, said on 'Fox News Sunday' that if he were Trump Jr.'s lawyer, 'I would tell him, 'You don't need to go back into this environment anymore.'

Graham, a close ally of President Trump's who golfs with the president, also told a group of reporters: 'You just show up and plead the Fifth and it's over with.' 

By Tuesday, the hashtag #LindseyGrahamResign was trending on Twitter. 

The anti-Trump super PAC the Democratic Coalition blasted out the hashtag, writing that Graham 'has abdicated his responsibilities as a U.S. Senator and has clearly abandoned his oath to uphold the Constitution and defend the rule of law.'

It was soon retweeted more than 65,000 times, the Hill reported.  

The subpoena highlights a delicate bind facing Burr, a third-term senator who is not expected to run for re-election in 2022. He has been adamant that the panel's Russia probe be bipartisan and fair and has worked closely with the panel's top Democrat, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner.

Burr's committee had renewed interest in talking to Trump Jr. after Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, told a House committee in February that he had briefed Trump Jr. approximately 10 times about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow before the presidential election. Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee in a separate interview in 2017 he was only 'peripherally aware' of the proposal.

The panel is also interested in talking to the president's first son about other topics, including a campaign meeting in Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer.

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Donald Trump Jr reaches deal to go before Senate Intel committee AGAIN

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