Monday on CNN’s “The Situation Room,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D- CT) accused Donald Trump Jr. of not being truthful when he testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Blumenthal said, “He’s a private citizen. He has no lawyer/client privilege with the president of the United States. He is the son of the president, but there is no son of the president privilege. He can claim the Fifth Amendment, but he is required to come before the committee and claim it himself. And the kinds of resistance we’re seeing here is nothing more than putting himself above the law.”
Sunday on Fox News, Senator Lindsey Graham (R- SC) said, “If I were Donald Trump Jr.’s lawyer, I would tell him, you don’t need to go back into this environment anymore. You’ve been there for hours and hours and nothing being alleged here changes the outcome of the Mueller investigation. I would call it a day.”
When asked about Graham’s comments, Blumenthal said, “I disagree with Chairman Lindsey Graham, I was in the Judiciary Committee when Donald Trump Jr. came to the committee. And I believe his answers, seemingly were misleading and deceptive on exactly the point the Senate Intelligence Committee now wants to question him on the Trump Tower meeting with Russian agents, the negotiations on the Moscow Trump Tower, the welcoming of dirt on Hillary Clinton, his messaging with Wikileaks on the hacked Russian e-mails. The Senate Intelligence Committee has a responsibility to protect our nation against continuing Russian attacks.”
He continued, “Suggesting that Donald Trump Jr. is above the law strikes me as unfounded and contrary to the positions that he took on Richard Nixon and on Bill Clinton and others where he has argued that the law applies to everyone and that’s the ruling of the United States Supreme Court.”
He added, “My hope is that we will have a bipartisan urging to Donald Trump Jr. that he come forward and now tell the truth.”
Blumenthal concluded, “I am strongly suggesting that his answers were seemingly misleading and deceptive. There are serious questions about his truthfulness before the committee. He now has an opportunity to clear up the record.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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