"And I'm trying to give my best recusal answer in committees I've appeared before, and really people are suggesting through innuendo that I have not been honest about matters, and I'm trying to be honest". "I know nothing but what I read in the paper", Sessions said.
Comey testified last week that he did not tell Sessions that Trump had asked him to drop a probe into National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's contacts with Russian Federation because he suspected Sessions would soon need to recuse himself from the Russian Federation probe. But Sessions recused himself from the Russian Federation investigation in March after the revelations of the two Kislyak meetings.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions says fired Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey's decision to announce that Hillary Clinton would not be prosecuted over her emails was a "usurpation" of the Justice Department's authority.
The committee's chairman, Republican Richard Burr, told Sessions the hearing was "your opportunity to separate fact from fiction" and "set the record straight on a number of allegations reported in the press".
Trump has been publicly dismissive of the Russian Federation investigation for months.
Democratic senators repeatedly criticized Sessions for dispatching Rosenstein to testify Tuesday in his place about the Justice Department's budget to an Appropriations subcommittee.
He called Comey's move "a thunderous thing" and it caused him to conclude "that a fresh start was appropriate".
Senators are expected to hone in on Comey's recounting of a February 14 White House meeting where Trump pressed the director to drop the FBI's inquiry into national security adviser Michael Flynn. First, he said he was "comfortable" providing the reasons for firing Comey in a memo to the president.
Sessions's testimony, though, failed to put to rest any doubts Senate investigators, or the public, have about numerous matters relating to his recusal, and whether he is adhering to it. That revelation prompted the attorney general in March to recuse himself from the Justice Department's probe into Russian election meddling. "I felt I was required to under the rules of the Department of Justice".
"Many have suggested that my recusal is because I felt I was a subject of the investigation myself, that I may have done something wrong", he said, stressing this was not the case.
Even before Sessions testified, attention in Washington swivelled to whether Trump might seek to fire Robert Mueller, the former FBI director named last month by the Justice Department to head a federal probe into the Russian Federation issue.
AG Sessions testifies on 2016 election interference, Russia investigation, dismissal of Comey
He never, he insisted, knew anything about the Russian Federation probe or had any role in it. Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann, Sadie Gurman and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed .
Sessions confirmed Comey's account, but he placed less emphasis on the Trump-Comey meeting.
The Justice Department has responded, citing the need to follow "appropriate policies regarding contacts with the White House".
Attorney General Jeff Sessions told a Senate committee Tuesday he had no contact with Russian officials related to last year's US presidential campaign and was not aware of anyone else in President Trump's campaign who did so.
Mr Sessions acknowledged he met Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak twice, but suggested he could not remember whether he met the envoy at a foreign policy speech event for then-candidate Mr Trump at the Mayflower Hotel on 27 April 2016, as U.S. media have reported.
He says the suggestion he was "aware of any collusion with the Russian government to hurt this country which I have served for 35 years, or to undermine the integrity of our democratic process, is an appalling and detestable lie".
Sessions adds that he has no knowledge of "any such conversations by anyone connected to the Trump campaign".
Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he did not have third meeting with the Russian ambassador to the United States.
"There is no legally binding basis for refusing to answer questions unrelated to an ongoing investigation unless the President is invoking executive privilege", William Yeomans, a 26-year veteran of the Justice Department and fellow at American University Law School, told CNN."That privilege is not absolute - it can be overcome by a sufficient interest". Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
But Sessions has not addressed this issue directly, nor broader questions about his relationship with Comey. They will also ask about his decision to recuse from an investigation into possible ties between Moscow and associates of President Donald Trump.
More vexing is why the Trump administration did not discuss recusal even earlier than Sessions's swearing-in date.
Comments