House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) heaped scorn on Democrats Friday for a Senate subpoena sent last week to Donald Trump Jr.

One problem: The order demanding that the president’s eldest son appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee actually came from the panel’s chairman Sen. Richard Burr (NC) — a fellow Republican.

“You can’t make this stuff up: Democrats are subpoenaing @DonaldTrumpJr based on the testimony of Michael Cohen — a man who lied to Congress multiple times,” Scalise tweeted Friday morning. “This is how low they are willing to sink to harass @realDonaldTrump & his entire family. The #MuellerReport is done. Move on!”

But as many Twitter users were quick to point out, Trump Jr. was in fact subpoenaed by a Republican. Scalise deleted his tweet soon after.


Other Republicans also publicly — and erroneously — took issue with Democrats over the decision to subpoena Trump Jr.

In a tweet Thursday afternoon, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) blamed Democrats and wrote that he believes the “case is closed” and that the Mueller report “cleared @DonaldTrumpJr.”

“[H]e’s already spent 27 hours testifying before Congress,” Tillis tweeted. “Dems have made is clear this is all about politics. It’s time to move on & start focusing on issues that matter to Americans.”

Tillis added in a remark to reporters, “We have a 400-plus page report that was determined after about $30 million of money spent, dozens of investigators, hundreds of subpoenas and inquisitions that there was no underlying crime and no obstruction. I personally believe Democrats are just trying to keep this thing alive, and it’s their latest launch point to do it.”

When one journalist noted that a Republican actually was behind the subpoena, Tillis only said he stood by his comment.

Other GOP lawmakers have at least correctly noted that a member of their own party is behind the subpoena.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told reporters Thursday he believed it was a mistake to “keep putting the Trump family through this.”

“This would not go forward without Republican complicity…I really think they ought to drop it,” Paul said.

Some in the party, meanwhile, stood with Burr.

“Mueller is a criminal justice investigation,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Thursday. “Ours is an intelligence investigation about the Russia threat and about the way our agencies performed.”


Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) refused to comment on the decision to subpoena Trump Jr. itself but said she supported Burr as the committee leader, and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said he had confidence Burr would not subpoena the president’s son without good reason.