Attorney General Jeff Sessions' testimony on Tuesday before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence demonstrated he has conformed to the highest standards of ethical conduct during his entire career, and especially since becoming attorney general in February.
Sessions, a close campaign adviser to Donald Trump and the first senator to endorse him, stepped aside from the investigation in early March after acknowledging he had spoken twice in the months before the election with the Russian ambassador.
Two months later, however, Sessions played a role in the May 9 firing of Comey, following a White House meeting he attended with Trump and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Former FBI Director James Comey, in a little-noticed moment during his Senate Intelligence Committee testimony last week, said Trump never once asked him about Russia's interference in the United States election as it related to national security during their nine conversations before he fired Comey in early May.
Sessions said he never spoke to Comey about his job performance before he was sacked.
Democratic senators pressed Sessions on the legal rationale for his refusal to discuss those private conversations, as Sessions acknowledged that Trump had not asserted executive privilege around the hearing.
While he defended his role in firing Comey and claimed there were performance issues, he repeatedly refused to discuss whether he'd recommended it or if Trump had asked him to come up with a rationale for a decision he'd already made, repeatedly saying he wouldn't talk about any private conversations with the President. Last week, Mr. Comey told the same Senate panel he was sacked because the investigation was "irritating" Mr. Trump.
Sessions said it would be "absurd" to suggest that a recusal from a single investigation would render him unable to manage the leadership of the FBI. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., both asked him to specify which Department of Justice rules protect conversations Sessions had with Trump without invoking executive privilege. Sessions said they had decided, even before they were confirmed for their positions at the Justice Department, that they needed to remove Comey because the Federal Bureau of Investigation needed a "fresh start". "I am following the historic policies of the Department of Justice".
Before he became attorney general, Sessions served two decades as a Republican senator from Alabama.
Asked about media reports that he had met with Kislyak on a third occasion at a Washington hotel previous year, Sessions testified that did not remember meeting or having a conversation with the ambassador at the event. "DOJ traditionally does not discuss ongoing investigations in public, but ultimately must answer questions unless executive privilege is properly invoked and upheld".
US, NK officials ahead of student's release
The State Department is continuing to discuss the situation of three other detained Americans with North Korea, Tillerson said. He said he is "just trying to open a door" on a mission that he thinks his former " Celebrity Apprentice " boss would support.
Trump watched Sessions testify aboard Air Force One during about 90-minute flight to Milwaukee, an aide told CNN.
You say, "This is classified, can't answer it here".
US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian Federation interfered in the election to help Trump in part by hacking and releasing damaging emails about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
"I do not", Mr Sessions replied. About Page, Sessions said "I don't know".
"My understanding is you took an oath, you raised your right hand here today, and you said you would solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth", Heinrich said.
He also has vented frustration to aides on Sessions' decision to recuse himself from the Russian Federation investigation, a decision that led to Rosenstein's appointment of a special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, a former FBI director.
"He didn't ask", the official said, "but going into a hearing and saying we are going to do this ahead of time is not how the process works". He said he would agree to dismiss Mueller only if there were a legitimate basis to do so. He has acknowledged two meetings past year with Russia's ambassador to the U.S., Sergei Kislyak.
Sessions told senators Tuesday that when Comey approached him about the Oval Office meeting, "he did not tell me at that time any details about anything that was said that was improper".
Russian Federation has denied any such interference, and Trump has denied any collusion by his campaign with Moscow. And even before he formally recused himself, Sessions was not briefed on and did not participate in anything related to the pending investigation.
Sessions, in what ended up being among his final comments, appeared to bolster that case.
Comments