Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, recommended that Donald Trump Jr. should ignore a Senate Intelligence Committee subpoena over testimony he previously gave Senate investigators in relation to the Russia investigation. Graham said Trump Jr. should "just show up and plead the Fifth and it’s over with."
"If I were Trump Jr.'s lawyer, I would tell him: 'You don't need to go back into this environment anymore. You've been there for hours and hours and hours and nothing being alleged here changes the outcome of the Mueller investigation,'" he later told Fox News. "I would call it a day."
Calls for Graham to resign have been amplified since he urged Trump Jr. to ignore the subpoena.
The Senate Intelligence Committee’s move comes as questions arise about contradictory statements Trump Jr. gave regarding his knowledge of the proposed plans for the Trump Tower Moscow project, which was the focus of an explosive Buzzfeed News report alleging that President Donald Trump directed his former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress. Trump Jr. testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2017 that he was only “peripherally aware” of plans for the project.
But Cohen’s February testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee disputes that narrative. Cohen testified that he had met with both Donald Trump Jr. and his sister, Ivanka Trump, “approximately 10” times to brief them about the plan.
President Trump has repeatedly denied ever conducting business with Russia and has said that he did not conduct any transactions with Russian oligarchs before or during his campaign. He has over the last few weeks directed White House officials not to comply with Congressional subpoenas and last week asserted executive privilege over the Mueller report and all underlying evidence.
Despite admitting that he has not read the entire Mueller report, Graham has come to Trump's defense here, too, insisting that the president did not obstruct justice.
