What is the Deal with the Donald Trump Jr. Subpoena?

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | May 9, 2019 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | May 9, 2019 |

Donald Trump Jr. has been subpoenaed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is something of a big deal because the Senate is controlled by Republicans and the Intelligence Committee is controlled by Republican Senator Richard Burr, who is not making any friends among his colleagues by issuing the subpoena.

.@DonaldJTrumpJr has already spent dozens of hours testifying in front of Congressional committees. Endless investigations—by either party—won't change the fact that there was NO collusion. It's time to move on. It’s time to focus on ISSUES, not investigations. https://t.co/fbFH5uMLUz

— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) May 8, 2019

Apparently the Republican chair of the Senate Intel Committee didn’t get the memo from the Majority Leader that this case was closed… https://t.co/jvV5PIX266

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 8, 2019

But this doesn’t seem to be a “political move” on Burr’s part, because even he thinks that Mueller should not testify in front of Congress, as the Democrats have requested. Burr, however, is still working on reports about the Russian efforts to undermine U.S. elections separate from the Mueller report. Meanwhile, while McConnell is trying to shut down any more efforts to investigate the President, he hasn’t put the kibosh on this subpoena, much to the dismay of Don Jr., and some are asking McConnell to strip Burr of his chairmanship. Given the infighting among Republicans over the subpoena, it must be a big deal for Burr (and McConnell) to not let this go, right? I mean, even Mick Mulvaney is a little pissy about not getting a heads up that Don Jr. would be subpoenaed.

But Mulvaney also sought to put some distance between the President and Don Jr., saying that they are “two different people” and suggested (wrongly) that the Mueller Report exonerated Trump, but that does not “mean that other individuals may or may have not done other things.”

So what’s going on here that Don Jr. reportedly is considering either not appearing for the subpoena or pleading the Fifth? Because in the words of his own father, “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth?”

Maybe it’s perjury?

This is significant.

For the Republican-controlled committee to subpoena Don Jr means they strongly believe they have him on perjury for his testimony in mid-December 2017. https://t.co/SXrzSiclJ3

— Philippe Reines (@PhilippeReines) May 8, 2019

I’m not so sure, though, that Burr would burn bridges with his colleagues in order to bring perjury charges against the President’s son (especially knowing that the f**king DOJ would decide whether to prosecute and also knowing that Trump would pardon his son immediately). There might be something more significant at play, unrelated to the Mueller findings.

Seth Abramson is kind of a hyperbolic conspiracy nut, but maybe he’s on to something here?

BREAKING NEWS: What I wrote about this morning has now become breaking news: I know Don Trump Jr. is a criminal who accepted foreign donations from the UAE and is about to be caught out in the biggest scandal in U.S. history, and now the Senate Intel Committee has SUBPOENAED HIM.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) May 8, 2019

1/ The topics we'll hear about in the media will be the Mueller Report topics: the June 9, 2016 meeting and the 2016 Trump Tower Moscow deal. The topic that will end up behind closed doors is the August 3, 2016 meeting Trump Jr. had with George Nader, Erik Prince, and Joel Zamel.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) May 8, 2019

2/ I said 9 months ago that Jr.'s meeting with Nader, Prince, and Zamel was THE biggest event of the Trump-Russia story. And we're going to learn that that's exactly right. Note that Trump Jr. is being subpoena by the INTELLIGENCE committee, the proper committee for this inquiry.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) May 8, 2019

3/ On the same day that Schiff demanded all the counterintelligence material underlying Mueller's investigation, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is calling back Don Jr.—one of the top suspects in the *still untold* counterintelligence story behind the Mueller Report.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) May 8, 2019

4/ Trump didn't get subpoenaed by the INTELLIGENCE committee just to testify about financial shenanigans. Or perjury. He's being subpoenaed for an INTELLIGENCE purpose—and those of us researching these issues know what some of those INTELLIGENCE purposes are. So let's be clear.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) May 8, 2019

5/ What I believe we'll eventually learn is why Flynn, Gates, and Nader got sweetheart deals. I believe we will eventually learn why Thomas Barrack and Bud McFarlane and Cambridge Analytica were missing from the Mueller Report. The same story links all of these people and topics.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) May 8, 2019

6/ Trump and Don Jr. know much of what's in those intel files.

"Inspiration." "Project Rome." "Project Raven." Ben Carson. "Bear, Forest and Lion." NSO. Pegasus. Ahmed al-Assiri. MBS. MBZ. RDIF-UAE joint investment. Zamel. Nader. Birnbaum.

The Trumps will fight this like hell.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) May 8, 2019

Maybe? The House is reportedly criminally referring Erik Prince to the Justice Department for misleading testimony. Erik Prince (the Blackwater Founder, and the brother of Betsy DeVos) did also conveniently leave out his testimony to Mueller a meeting he had with Donald Trump Jr., Stephen Miller, and George Nader in 2016.

So, I don’t know, but I do know that Mueller said in his report that Don Jr. committed a crime, but that he couldn’t prove intent because Trump Jr. was too dumb to understand the law. However, that might have been one of the 12 cases that Mueller spun off into other jurisdictions, or perhaps Burr is calling Trump Jr. back to see if he’s as dumb as he looks.

We’ll see. Or we won’t, because Don Jr. is never going to actually testify, because even Lindsay Graham is saying aloud that, if he’s Don Jr.’s attorney, he wouldn’t let Don Jr. testify.