Manafort, Trump Jr. to turn over documents to Senate Judiciary panel

WASHINGTON - Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., have agreed to turn over documents to and testify behind closed doors before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of its ongoing probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., still expect Manafort and Trump Jr. to speak to the committee publicly. But because both are cooperating, the panel leaders said in a statement that they would not issue subpoenas requiring their presence at Wednesday hearing, only "reserve the right to do so in the future."

"Both Donald Trump, Jr. and Paul Manafort, through their attorneys, have agreed to negotiate and provide the committee with documents and be interviewed by committee members and staff prior to a public hearing," they said in a statement.

The date for the closed-door meeting has not yet been decided.

In letters to Trump Jr. and Manafort this week, the committee leaders asked them to furnish all documents related to a June 2016 meeting both participated in with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer who once represented Russian intelligence unit in a court dispute, as well as any commnications or records of attempts to obtain information from Russians about Hillary Clinton or the 2016 presidential campaign. Those documents are due to the committee by Aug. 2.

But Grassley and Feinstein did issue a subpoena Friday night for Glenn Simpson, the CEO of Fusion GPS, a firm behind the production of a dossier depicting salacious but unverified details of Donald Trump's experience in Moscow. Simpson was slated to appear on a panel with Manafort and Trump Jr. on Wednesday, but in a Friday letter from his lawyers, Simpson turned down the committee's invitation, claiming Simpson could not attend "due to long held vacation plans."

They also wrote that they would challenge a subpoena by asserting "applicable privileges . . . under the First and Fifth Amendments."

Grassley has focused acutely on Fusion over the past few months, asking the Justice Department why the research firm has not been required to register as a foreign agent.

Simpson was invited to testify before the judiciary committee this week at a hearing on enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, but the hearing was postponed until next Wednesday. Manafort and Trump Jr. were scheduled to appear on a panel with him; their appearance at the hearing is no longer expected.