Judiciary Committee Issues Subpoena for Paul Manafort to Testify

By Joseph Tanfani, Los Angeles Times

25 July 17

he Senate Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign manager, saying that negotiations for him to testify voluntarily had broken down.

Manafort, whose testimony has also been requested by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, "through his attorney, said that he would be willing to provide only a single transcribed interview to Congress, which would not be available to the Judiciary Committee members or staff," the Judiciary Committee chair, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and its senior Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, said in a statement Tuesday morning.

The committee could not agree to that plan, the senators said.

The subpoena, issued Monday night, seeks to compel Manafort to appear at a hearing on Wednesday, although the statement left open the possibility that his testimony could be postponed to a later date.

Manafort could refuse to comply with the subpoena, in which case the committee could seek to hold him in contempt.

The Judiciary Committee has wanted Manafort to testify about how the government enforces the law that requires people who represent foreign governments and their agencies to register. The firm Manafort heads retroactively registered in June under the Foreign Agents Registration Act admitting that it had received some $17 million to represent the pro-Russian party that dominated Ukraine's government until it was overthrown in 2014.