Attorney General Jeff Sessions to talk publicly to US Senate panel

It could be another intriguing day of testimony on Capitol Hill when U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions goes before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday afternoon, as Sessions is expected to face questions about his role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey, and the extent of any contacts that the former U.S. Senator had with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign.

Sessions' testimony is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Sessions had recused himself from Russian Federation probe matters, after failing to disclose two meetings with Russia's ambassador to the US on his security-clearance paperwork and during Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings.

Tuesday's testimony is likely also to touch on allegations that Sessions himself met more often than he has acknowledged with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Of special interest will be Comey's assertion that he told Sessions after the meeting that he never again wanted to be left alone with the president. The Justice Department has denied that, saying Sessions stressed to Comey the need to be careful about following appropriate policies.

She said Sessions should also testify before the Judiciary Committee, because it was better suited to explore legal questions of possible obstruction. But Comey did not explain why, saying only that, "we also were aware of facts that I can't discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a Russia-related investigation problematic".

They also want him to explain his role in the firing of Comey, despite the attorney general's recusal in March from the Russian Federation investigation following revelations of his meetings with Kislyak.

Sessions faces questions about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the US during the presidential campaign. It was later revealed that he met with Kislyak on at least two occasions - encounters that Sessions differentiated by portraying them as coming in the course of his duties as a senator, not within his role in the Trump campaign.

"(Sessions) believes it is important for the American people to hear the truth directly from him and looks forward to answering the committee's questions tomorrow", a Justice Department spokesperson said.

New questions about Sessions emerged last week, after former FBI Director James Comey said he and other leaders at the agency had expected Sessions to recuse himself weeks before he did so - and that the reasons behind that thinking are classified. Trump has denied he tried to interfere with the probe.In his testimony, Comey said he had asked Sessions not to leave him alone with Trump following meetings where he said Trump had asked Comey for his loyalty.

Reed also said he wants to know if Sessions had more meetings with Russian officials as a Trump campaign adviser than have been disclosed. On Saturday, he wrote the chairmen of both committees and said he was sending his deputy attorney general to testify in his place.

The White House on Monday suggested Sessions could invoke executive privilege during his testimony depending on "the scope of the questions". Comey spoke of receiving pressure from President Donald Trump to drop a probe into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's contacts with Russian Federation. In Rosenstein's letter, which Sessions endorsed in his own, Rosenstein criticized Comey's handling of the Clinton email investigation. "And - but I did not tell him about the Flynn part". Officials said that Sessions at one point offered to resign as his relationship with the president became increasingly tense. CNN reported at the time that the Federal Bureau of Investigation denied Priebus' request, although White House press secretary Sean Spicer said at the time that the White House was simply asking the Federal Bureau of Investigation "to tell the truth" in response to reports about Trump campaign communications with Russian officials.