Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort met with Senate Intelligence Committee staff Tuesday morning, a spokesman said, hours after the Senate Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena to force him to testify at a Wednesday hearing.
"Paul Manafort met this morning, by previous agreement, with the bipartisan staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee and answered their questions fully," Jason Maloni, Manafort's spokesman, said in an email.
Two people familiar with the intelligence committee investigation said Manafort's interview with committee staff was limited to the topic of the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer.
One of the people said that Manafort also turned over his notes documenting the meeting.
That gathering was described to Donald Trump Jr. in emails as part of a Russian government effort to aid the Trump campaign.
The other person says that Manafort has agreed to additional interviews with the intelligence committee staff.
Meanwhile, the Judiciary Committee issued its subpoena Monday night to compel him to testify at a hearing Wednesday.
The bipartisan leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee said they tried to negotiate with Manafort about his testimony to that panel, but weren't able to reach an agreement.
"Mr. Manafort, 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," panel Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking Democrat, said in a joint statement.
"While the Judiciary Committee was willing to cooperate on equal terms with any other committee to accommodate Mr. Manafort's request, ultimately that was not possible."
The committee had invited Manafort to appear at a public hearing Wednesday to discuss his lobbying activities on behalf of foreign entities, along with Donald Trump Jr. The panel's leaders issued the subpoena to Manafort late Monday.
"As with other witnesses, we may be willing to excuse him from Wednesday's hearing if he would be willing to agree to production of documents and a transcribed interview, with the understanding that the interview would not constitute a waiver of his rights or prejudice the committee's right to compel his testimony in the future," Grassley and Feinstein said.
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