Talking Points: Kushner, Trump Jr. & Manafort Behind Closed Doors
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. 2016 presidential election will continue to get more attention this week as President Donald Trump's son-in-law and top adviser, Jared Kushner, will go before the House Intelligence Committee.
Donald Trump Jr. and Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, will also be going before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
While the testimony of the three will take place behind closed doors, it does not mean that the three could eventually end up testifying publicly before Congress.
Testifying behind closed doors allows the three to avoid subpoenas and allows senators to get access to documents and get a feel for how the witnesses could testify in a public session.
The president has insisted he never knew about the June 2016 meeting attended by a Russian attorney -- as well as Kushner, Trump Jr. and Manafort -- in which the Russians promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton.
Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar are on the Judiciary Committee and will be questioning Donald Trump Jr and Manafort this week.
Klobuchar, a former prosecutor, was a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning.
"We think, eventually, there will be another hearing that will be public, but Chairman [Chuck] Grassley and Sen. Diane Feinstein decided it was most important to get the documents first so we can look at them," Klobuchar said, adding: "I think this is very serious. We have to get to the bottom of what happened, and, meanwhile, we have to make sure we are governing the country and that legislation is moving forward on others things that matter to the people of this country."
Aside from the ongoing congressional investigations, the Trump administration is also facing a separate probe into Russian meddling from Special Prosecutor and former FBI Director Robert Mueller.
