Grassley plans to release Trump Jr. interview transcript The Senate Judiciary Chairman spoke out a day after Democrats pressed for the release of transcripts related to a 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will soon release the transcript of its interview with Donald Trump Jr. as well as other witness testimony related to a controversial 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Kremlin-linked lawyer, Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Thursday.

Grassley's comments come the day after two Democrats on the committee publicly pressed for the release of the panel's closed-door interview transcripts to special counsel Robert Mueller. Even as partisan disputes roil the House's Russia investigation, Grassley's alignment with Democrats on releasing the transcripts signals that the Senate — for now, at least — remains in a more collaborative mode.


The committee is finished with work related to the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, attended by President Donald Trump's eldest son and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as well as campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Grassley said. "So, now it’s time to start releasing the transcripts of all witness interviews we have done related to that meeting. Let’s get them out there for everyone to see."

In addition to Trump Jr., who sat for an interview in September, the committee also plans to release written responses from Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer who said the Trump team pressed her for negative information about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 meeting.

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The other witnesses in attendance at the Trump Tower meeting whose interviews are in line for release are Russian real estate executive Ike Kaveladze, Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin, music promoter Rob Goldstone, and translator Anatoli Samochornov, according to Grassley's office.

The Judiciary Committee has not yet met with Kushner, however, and Grassley on Thursday reiterated his previous concerns that "our chances of getting a voluntary interview with Mr. Kushner have been shot."

Grassley blamed that on the decision earlier this month by the committee's top Democrat, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, to unilaterally release another interview transcript: that of Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, whose firm commissioned a private intelligence dossier alleging that Russia may have obtained compromising material about Donald Trump.

The Judiciary panel will work on getting access to the Senate Intelligence Committee's March interview with Kushner, Grassley said.

Grassley added that "I’d like to work on getting that done as soon as possible." The task of reviewing and redacting the transcripts, however, is likely to delay their public release.

Feinstein said through a spokesman that she welcomed the decision, adding that "I hope this means Chairman Grassley will move forward with public hearings" with Trump Jr. and Kushner.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, one of the two Democrats who on Wednesday pushed for the transcripts' disclosure to Mueller, agreed that Grassley's announcement "must be followed by testimony in public and under oath by these witnesses and others," as well as subpoenas for documents.

Grassley told reporters that he hasn't ruled out public hearings with Trump Jr. or Kushner but said they were "not likely" following his Thursday announcement.