Senate intel leaders said Trump associates may have presented misleading testimony during Russia probe: report

Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee reportedly told federal prosecutors last year that they believed President Trump’s family and associates may have presented misleading testimony during the panel’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Among those suspected of presenting misleading information are the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. and son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner, unidentified sources familiar with the matter told The Washington Post. Trump Jr.’s and Kushner’s accounts of a meeting with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign reportedly conflicted with the testimony of former deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates. 

The committee also reportedly accused the president’s former chief strategist Stephen Bannon, former campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis and private security contractor Erik Prince of lying to Congress, which potentially carries a felony charge.

The concerns were detailed in a letter sent by the committee in June 2019 to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., according to a copy obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

It’s unclear if the Department of Justice (DOJ) took any action on the referrals, which are generally tips from Congress about potential criminal activity.

A spokesperson for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the acting chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The Hill that the panel would not discuss the referrals.

“And those who in order to score cheap political points are speculating on or claim to know the identities of those referred are committing a grotesque injustice,” the spokesperson said.

The DOJ did not return a request for comments from The Hill.

The Senate Intelligence Committee engaged in an investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election for more than three years. Like former special counsel Robert Mueller, the panel concluded that the Kremlin mounted a sophisticated effort to boost President Trump and harm Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s candidacy during the lead-up to the 2016 election.

While other investigations into Russia interference were marred by political disputes, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s probe has remained largely bipartisan. The panel announced earlier this month that it had voted to adopt its fifth and final report on its investigation.

Three officials told the Post that the committee referred several individuals to the Justice Department amid its investigation because of inconsistencies in their answers. Former Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and ranking member Mark Warner (D-Va.) reportedly signed off on all of the referrals, some of which were directed to Mueller’s team.

A Senate Intelligence Committee aide told The Hill that referrals were made when lawmakers suspected a crime may have been committed. They are not indictments, the aide said, adding the panel did not know their current status.

One referral letter sent to the Justice Department in 2019 reportedly said that Bannon may have lied to the panel regarding a meeting that Prince had in the Seychelles with an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

That letter reportedly included sections addressing people suspected of making false statements and a separate one about figures’ testimonies that were contradicted by Gates.

Hope Hicks, Trump’s former communications director, and Paul Manafort, President Trump’s ex-campaign chairman, were listed in the second section in addition to Trump Jr. and Kushner, according to the Post. Trump Jr. and other campaign associates came under scrutiny over their involvement in a Manhattan Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer who promised damaging info on Clinton. 

“We are fully confident in the testimony and information provided by Donald J. Trump, Jr.,” Alan Futerfas, Trump Jr.’s lawyer, told the newspaper. “In our view, this is a non-story.”

The Senate Intelligence Committee interviewed hundreds of people in its probe that stretched for nearly 3 ½ years. Members of the committee said in early August that in the coming days, they will work to “formalize a properly redacted, declassified, publicly releasable version of the Volume 5 report.”

The report’s release will conclude the last remaining investigation into Russian election interference. 

–This report was updated on Aug. 17 at 11:21 a.m.