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//www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7133021/Grinning-Don-Jr-arrives-Senate-Intelligence-Committee-subpoena-spat.html
By David Martosko, U.S. Political Editor and Geoff Earle, Deputy U.s. Political Director For Dailymail.com
09:51 EDT 12 Jun 2019, updated 13:43 EDT 12 Jun 2019
When Donald Trump Jr. faced a tense Senate Intelligence Committee grilling on Wednesday, he ignored his own lawyers' objections to nearly a dozen pointed questions and answered them anyway, according to a source with knowledge of what happened behind closed doors.
Trump Jr. overruled his legal advisors who told him he should refuse to answer some questions about discrepancies between his earlier testimony and that of Michael Cohen, the president's disgraced former lawyer who is serving a 3-year prison term for crimes including lying to Congress.
A second source, who was present Wednesday in the room on Capitol Hill, confirmed the account after this story was first published.
The president's eldest son told reporters on Capitol Hill after his appearance that 'there was nothing to change' about his sworn statements.
'If there needed to be clarification because Michael Cohen – who, let's not forget, is serving time right now for lying to these very investigative bodies – I'm happy to do that,' he said.
'I don't think I changed anything of what I've said because there was nothing to change. I'm glad that this is finally over [and] we're able to put some final clarity on that. And I think the committee understands that.'
Asked if he was worried about tempting Democrats to seek a perjury charge against him, Trump Jr. responded: 'Not at all.'
The source who spoke to DailyMail.com early on Wednesday afternoon said Trump Jr. was eager to deny Democrats on the committee the opportunity to say he was evasive or refused to give them any information they demanded.
He emerged afterward wearing a wide grin after three hours in the hot seat.
Republican committee chairman Sen. Richard Burr subpoenaed him for his testimony as part of the committee's Russia probe. He later shortened the length of Wednesday's follow-up interview following negotiations prompted by the subpoena.
Trump Jr. had already appeared before the same panel and the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2017, delivering about 20 hours of testimony.
Investigators were expected to push Trump Jr. for more information about an aborted Trump Tower deal in Moscow that former Trump Organization lawyer Michael Cohen testified he was negotiating through the summer of 2016 as Donald Trump was running for president.
Trump Jr. told the Judiciary Committee in 2017 that he was only 'peripherally aware' of the later-abandoned deal; Cohen provided a memorandum of understanding and proposed sketches that came along with it.
infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting that Trump Jr. attended, and which was featured in the Mueller report.
The report said there were 'reasonable arguments' that the foreign dirt on campaign rival Hillary Clinton offered to set up the meeting constituted a 'thing of value.'
Donald Trump Jr. arrives for Senate testimony on Capitol Hill
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But Mueller's federal prosecutors concluded that they 'did not obtain admissible evidence likely to meet the government's burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that these individuals [including Trump Jr] acted 'willfully,' i.e. with general knowledge of the illegality of their conduct.'
Trump Jr. has become a vocal defender of his father's administration online and at campaign rallies. People close to him said Tuesday that the exercise would only serve to breathe new life into 'bulls**t' allegations related to Mueller's probe.
A source close to Trump Jr. told DailyMail.com that he was frustrated to read news coverage that failed to explain the questions would concern disagreement between his testimony and that of Michael Cohen and Rick Gates.
'The two people where he has conflicting testimony are going to jail for lying,' the source said Tuesday while declining to be identified. 'If Don's being questioned about the testimony of two people who would say anything to get themselves out of a jam and are going to jail, or are in jail, for lying to these bodies, that's a stretch.'
'If Robert Mueller and his dream team of 19 left-wing Hillary Clinton donors could have gotten Don Jr. for perjury, they would have,' the person added. 'But it's a desperate attempt by these committees to keep this bulls**t going.' Continues >>>