Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, says she backs a subpoena if necessary. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo Senate Judiciary to call Manafort to discuss Trump Jr. email chain

The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to call onetime Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort — newly ensnared in the latest controversy surrounding the campaign’s communications with Russia — to appear before the panel as soon as next week, with the committee’s leaders vowing to use its subpoena power if needed.

Manafort was among the recipients of an email chain that began with an email sent to Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, that detailed plans to arrange a meeting between a Russian government lawyer supposedly willing to share damaging information about Hillary Clinton. A source close to Manafort previously told Politico that he did not read all the way to the bottom of the email chain and did not know who the Russian attorney was.


Still, the former campaign chairman attended that meeting with the younger Trump and the attorney, Natalia Veselnitskaya.

“This is the chairman’s suggestion,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Wednesday of the committee’s plans to ask Manafort to appear. “It gives us the ability to ask some questions that need to be asked about a specific email chain. And he was party to the discussion.”

Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said she backs a subpoena if necessary, noting that “we are the committee of jurisdiction, and therefore we have to carry that out, and this is an important matter.”

Sign up here for POLITICO Huddle A daily play-by-play of congressional news in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The committee’s chairman, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), also said Wednesday he is willing to issue a subpoena. He said he hopes Manafort will appear next week at a Judiciary hearing on the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

“If it works into this next hearing, that’s scheduled for next week, on FARA,” Grassley said, adding that the committee also wants to talk to Manafort about the meeting with the Russian lawyer.

Judiciary Committee spokesman Taylor Foy later issued a statement saying the panel would work with Special Counsel Robert Mueller to ensure there are no conflicts with potential criminal investigations.

“If conflicts exist, then Chairman Grassley is prepared to work with Special Counsel Mueller to find a way for the committee to proceed with its oversight responsibility,” Foy said.

