WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Thursday blasted a decision by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee to subpoena Donald Trump Jr., saying he was « very surprised » by the…
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Thursday blasted a decision by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee to subpoena Donald Trump Jr., saying he was « very surprised » by the move.
Days after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared « case closed » in the ongoing probes into the 2016 election, the GOP-led committee subpoenaed the president’s son for reasons that were not immediately clear.
« I was very surprised, » Trump said during impromptu press conference at the White House following an event on « surprise » medical bills that saddle patients with thousands of dollars in debt. « My son’s a very good person. My son was totally exonerated. »
Trump didn’t say directly whether his son should fight the subpoena.
The president touched on several other controversial topics:
► Trump said former Secretary of State John Kerry should be « prosecuted » for meeting with Iranian officials last year. A Kerry spokesman responded by arguing that « everything President Trump said today is simply wrong, end of story. »
► The president called on Congress to address « surprise » billing at hospitals that can unexpectedly leave patients thousands of dollars in debt after their care, focusing on a bipartisan slice of a highly divisive issue. Trump said his administration would announce new steps to deal with the issue in coming weeks. As part of his speech, Trump inspected the bill of a patient who was charged nearly $18,000 for a urine test.
► Hours before a high-stakes meeting with representatives from China, Trump said he received a « beautiful letter » from Chinese President Xi Jinping and would follow up with a phone call soon.
The news of the subpoena for Trump Jr. came as tensions are escalating between Democrats and the Trump administration. On Wednesday, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress over his refusal to hand over an unredacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.
