Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley said Wednesday that he wanted former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to testify before the panel in open session next week — under subpoena, if necessary.
"He was present at the meeting that we've all read about in the last week, the weekend news," the Iowa Republican told reporters at the Capitol.
Grassley was referring to reports of Manafort participating in a meeting arranged by Donald Trump Jr. with a Russian lawyer under the guise of receiving damaging information on Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The chairman noted that the committee is holding hearings next week on the Federal Agent Registration Act, which requires Americans to register to work as lobbyists of foreign governments.
Manafort is currently working to register with the federal government as a foreign agent, his spokesman said in April.
He began the effort before the 2016 election — and his previous lobbying work was not conducted on behalf of the Russian government, the representative said.
The activity also began before Manafort started working with the Trump campaign, the spokesman said.
Also that month, a Washington lobbying firm that Manafort co-managed registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent.
The firm said its work could have benefited the Ukrainian government.
"He's going to fit in well at the hearing," Grassley told reporters Wednesday.
The panel has not yet asked Manafort to appear, but he has said that he wanted to testify before Congress on his Russian ties in a classified session.
"We're going to invite him — and if he doesn't agree, then under our new rules, Sen. [Dianne] Feinstein and I have the power to issue a subpoena," Grassley said.
Feinstein, the California Democrat, is the Judiciary Committee's vice chair.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.