Lawyer up, Sluggo. From CNN.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr. for him to return and testify again, and the committee is now at a standoff with Trump's eldest son, according to sources familiar with the matter...During the negotiations, the idea to use written questions and answers was floated, and at another time it was proposed that Trump Jr. sit for an untranscribed interview, according to one source.

Trump Jr.'s position hardened after the report was released. The report stated that the special counsel's team explored charging Trump Jr. and other campaign officials with campaign finance violations for the meeting they took with a Russian lawyer offering dirt on Hillary Clinton in 2016 but ultimately declined because they could not place a value on the materials offered and could not establish Trump Jr. knew he was violating the law. Mueller's team also did not establish that there was a conspiracy between Russians and members of the Trump campaign, which Trump allies have used to embolden their position that the investigation was a "witch hunt."



The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee is Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina, which makes this a very interesting decision. For months, it was conventional wisdom in Washington that, no matter how awful Devin Nunes was at chairing the House Intelligence Committee, Burr and his Democratic counterpart, Mark Warner of Virginia, were running a pretty straight operation. Then it was revealed in Robert Mueller's report that Burr had been debriefing the folks down at Camp Runamuck, which dinged Burr's halo pretty hard. Again, from CNN:



"The week after Comey's briefing, the White House Counsel's Office was in contact with (Senate Intelligence Committee) Chairman Senator Richard Burr about the Russia investigations and appears to have received information about the status of the FBI investigation," the report states.

In a footnote, the report states that the White House counsel's office was briefed by Burr, a North Carolina Republican, on the "existence of 4-5 targets,'" citing notes from former deputy White House Counsel Annie Donaldson. The notes included references to former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, an individual whose identity was redacted due to an ongoing investigation, and "Greek Guy," which is likely George Papadopoulos — although the footnote also notes that the Intelligence Committee "does not formally investigate individuals as 'targets.'"



It's not being entirely cynical to suggest that Burr might have needed to restore some of his previous reputation for fair-mindedness. For whatever reason, the midway is getting awfully crowded with attractions this season.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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