Donald Trump Jr. will testify privately before a Senate panel Thursday about his 2016 Russia meeting

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Donald Trump Jr., the president's oldest son and executive director of the Trump Organization, will meet with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday to discuss a June 2016 meeting he set up with a Kremlin-backed lawyer and other Russians promising compromising information on Hillary Clinton. Trump's testimony, originally scheduled for July, will be transcribed but held behind closed doors.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, headed by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), is one of three congressional panels looking at Russian interference in the 2016 election, but Grassley's committee is focused more on potential obstruction of justice and issues surrounding foreign lobbying than possible collusion with Russia. Trump will be the first insider from his father's presidential campaign to appear before the committee. Grassley, 83, has a reputation as a dogged investigator but he has also appeared to try to protect President Trump at times, The Washington Post says, and one of the big questions for Thursday is which Grassley shows up: "fearless investigator ready to take on his own party, or loyal member of the GOP."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.