Trump Jr. to testify over Russian election meddling

Donald Trump Jr., the US President's eldest son, is slated to testify before a Senate judiciary committee on July 26 over alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, the media reported.

Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul J. Manafort will also testify alongside Trump Jr. whereas the President's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner will appear earlier on July 24, the committee panel announced on Wednesday.

However, a source told CNN that Kushner's testimony would be behind closed doors.

"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," his lawyer Abbe Lowell said late Wednesday in response to the panel's announcement.

"Working with and being responsive to the schedules of the committees, we have arranged Mr. Kushner's interview with the Senate for July 24. He will continue to cooperate and appreciates the opportunity to assist in putting this matter to rest."

Earlier this week, Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, said that Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller had signed off on the committee's request to interview Manafort and Trump Jr. in public, CNN reported.

The committee wants to hear from Trump Jr. about a June 2016 meeting he had with a Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya purported to have damaging information about his father's Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Manafort, who served briefly as the head of the Trump campaign, was also present for that discussion.

The encounter between Trump Jr. and Veselnitskaya was set up by Briton Rob Goldstone, a publicist associated with pop singer Emin Agalarov, the son of magnate Aras Agalarov, a past business associate of the US President.

Trump Jr. said that Veselnitskaya turned out not to have any information about Clinton.

--IANS

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