Grassley may subpoena former Trump campaign chairman

Sen. Chuck Grassley said Wednesday he may subpoena the one-time chairman of Donald Trump's campaign committee to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee what he knows about a meeting last year between Trump's son and a Russian lawyer said to be offering 'dirt” on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Paul Manafort already has volunteered to talk to congressional intelligence committees investigating whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government attempting to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

But that offer came before the latest revelation that Donald Trump Jr., the elder Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Manafort met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

Manafort also has been called before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Grassley chairs, to testify about enforcement of the Foreign Agent Registration Act. Passed in 1938, the act requires agents representing foreign countries in a 'political or quasi-political capacity” to disclose that relationship and information about related activities and finances.

Grassley said Wednesday that he's asked the departments of Homeland Security and State how Veselnitskaya could be in the United States without registering under the foreign agents act or on a valid visa.

The Iowa Republican told reporters he thinks there has been 'lackadaisical enforcement” by the Trump and Obama administrations.

It's likely the questioning of Manafort might extend beyond the foreign agent act to probe the more recent allegations.

'If he comes before our committee - and we'll subpoena him if necessary - then it would be appropriate for anybody to get into anything that went on at that meeting,” Grassley said.

Later, a spokesman for Grassley said the senator and Judiciary Committee ranking Democrat Sen. Diane Feinstein of California are working with Special Counsel Robert Mueller 'to ensure that such an action would not conflict with any criminal investigation.” If there is a conflict, Grassley is prepared to work with Mueller to find a way for the committee to proceed with its oversight responsibility, he said.

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