Feinstein: Trump Jr. will be subpoenaed if he refuses to testify

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Thursday she isn’t concerned about Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort agreeing to testify before a Senate panel, because if they don’t “they’ll be subpoenaed.”

“Am I concerned? No, I’m not concerned, because if they don’t they’ll be subpoenaed,” Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters.

Feinstein: If Don Jr. and Manafort don’t accept invitation to testify, “they’ll be subpoenaed” (via @GarrettHaake) pic.twitter.com/hoZK2Y4PiN

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 20, 2017

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Feinstein would need Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to support a subpoena. The two senators have said for weeks that they would be willing to subpoena Trump Jr. and Manafort if they declined to voluntarily testify before the panel.

The Democratic senator’s comments came a day after the Judiciary committee scheduled a hearing for next Wednesday with Trump Jr. and Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman.

The hearing is purportedly to conduct oversight of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and “attempts to influence U.S. elections,” the committee said Wednesday.

Lawmakers have been pushing to hear from the pair following heightened scrutiny over a June 2016 meeting Trump Jr. attended with a Russian lawyer in an effort to get damaging information on his father’s Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton. Manafort also attended the meeting.

“Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Feinstein have agreed to issue subpoenas, if necessary … to secure their testimony,” the committee said in a statement Wednesday, announcing it had asked Trump Jr. and Manafort to preserve campaign-related documents for the panel.