House Majority Whip Tom Emmer is accusing senators of cooking up “a new Russia hoax” in the waning weeks before the midterm elections.
The Minnesota Republican on Wednesday accused the upper chamber of stalling the House’s priorities in favor of a flimsy probe of presidential son Donald Trump Jr.
“The Senate is still sitting on the SAVE America Act, reconciliation 3.0, Clarity Act, and hundreds of good conservative House bills that need to be passed,” wrote Mr. Emmer in a social media post channeling common House Republican frustrations with the Senate.
Most bills in the Senate are subject to a 60-vote filibuster threshold, allowing Democrats to block legislation.
“Now just mere days before leaving town, some senators want to waste time creating a new Russia hoax and attacking Don Jr.,” a reference to the push of Sen. John Curtis, Utah Republican, to subpoena the president’s son.
During his first term as president, the elder Mr. Trump was investigated by the FBI and Congress for alleged coordination with the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
After a 22-month probe, special counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence of Trump team connivance or cooperation with those efforts.
The president’s son recently acknowledged that Umar Kremlev, a Russian businessman with ties to President Vladimir Putin, partially paid for his wedding weekend in the Bahamas.
Mr. Kremlev is president of the International Boxing Association, which, under his tenure, has received financial backing from Gazprom, a Russian state-owned energy company. He has praised Mr. Putin and accompanied him on a state visit to China.
Mr. Grassley said Wednesday he will not subpoena the younger Mr. Trump because Democrats were unwilling under the previous administration to investigate claims made against President Biden’s son Hunter.
“My Democratic colleagues only want to investigate Trump and his family,” he said. “My colleagues on the other side of the aisle can’t maintain credibility when they pick and choose for political purposes who to investigate.”
However, Democrats are likely to press further on the issue if they take control of either or both chambers after the midterm elections.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the wedding episode a “major national security issue that should be investigated promptly by both criminal authorities and by the Judiciary Committee using all of the powers available, including subpoenas.”
The younger Mr. Trump, in a joint statement with his wife, Bettina, denied that the wedding gift was a quid pro quo.
“Friendship doesn’t require a political motive. Generosity doesn’t automatically come with an agenda. And sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift,” they wrote after the wedding party in response to reporting by ProPublica.
The president has said the gift is “totally allowed” but that his son paid Mr. Kremlev back for funding the wedding weekend.
Democrats want to open up other investigations into the president’s son’s activities, as well.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, has launched his own “investigation” into a venture capital firm connected to the president’s son, which he has accused of benefiting from government connections.
The firm has denied Mr. Raskin’s claims. And because Democrats do not have a majority in the House, Mr. Raskin is unable to issue subpoenas.
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