Republicans Cave And Give Donald Trump Jr. An Escape With Testimony Deal

The Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee has given Donald Trump Jr. a deal where his Senate testimony is limited in time and scope.

The New York Times reported:
The compromise was an appearance by Mr. Trump in the middle of June, with questions limited to about a half-dozen topics, with the time no longer than two to four hours, according to a person briefed. Another person, who would not be identified, contested that the scope was of the topics had been limited.

….

The move by the younger Mr. Trump’s associates was straight out of his father’s playbook — set the terms of the debate at the most extreme end of the discussion by saying he would not appear, then cut a deal and look gracious.

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The agreement provides Mr. Burr with an off-ramp from the confrontation. If the younger Mr. Trump had refused to appear, the chairman would have faced a painful choice between initiating contempt of Congress proceedings against the president’s eldest son and undercutting the independence of his two-year investigation of Russian election interference by letting him defy him.

The limited time is the biggest problem with Donald Trump Jr.’s deal

By limiting his testimony to 2-4 hours, Republicans have made it possible for Donald Trump Jr. to run out the clock. Don Jr. can take a page from Bill Barr’s book and stall on any questions that he doesn’t want to answer until the time expires. The limited scope means that Trump Jr. can’t be asked about anything that is not on the narrow list of approved topics.

This is a sweetheart deal that even includes Trump Jr. not having to testify in public.

Maybe the committee can get the answers that they seek, but it is doubtful that Donald Trump Jr. will provide anything useful because when Republicans had a choice between the law and appeasing Trump, they once again chose presidential appeasement.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association