Dem calls for hearing on Trump Jr.’s contact with WikiLeaks

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) on Wednesday called for a congressional hearing into Donald Trump Jr.’s communications with WikiLeaks during the 2016 presidential campaign, saying the matter was “troublesome.” 

“This is extremely troublesome and it really does require a congressional hearing,” Cardin, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

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“First of all, we know that WikiLeaks has been working with Russia in regards to what happened in our election. Now we know there was communication between WikiLeaks and Donald Trump Jr. about using the information of WikiLeaks,” he said. 

“Shortly thereafter, candidate Donald Trump issued a tweet in regards to WikiLeaks. This is more than just having information that’s interesting,” he continued. 

Cardin’s comments come after it was revealed that Trump Jr. communicated privately with WikiLeaks during the presidential campaign. 

The WikiLeaks Twitter account had sent a direct message to the president’s eldest son in September 2016 alerting him that an anti-Trump site run by a political action committee was “about to launch.” The message offered the password to the site.

Trump Jr. later confirmed the correspondence in a tweet on Monday. 

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Tuesday downplayed the email exchanges. 

“I read those emails. He only responded to two or three of them, and they were very innocuous. So I don’t even know why you’d be asking about him if you read them,” Grassley told CNN.

Trump Jr. has already faced intense scrutiny for his meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in June 2016. He said agreed to that meeting after being offered damaging information on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.