The White House said on June 13 that U.S. President Donald Trump "has the right" to fire the special counsel investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but he doesn't intend to do so.
Those calls have escalated since fired FBI Director Comey cryptically told lawmakers last week that the bureau had expected Sessions to recuse himself weeks before he did from the investigation into contacts between Trump campaign associates and Russian Federation during the 2016 presidential election. Comey told the intelligence committee that, after an encounter with President Trump in which he said Trump pressured him to back off an investigation into the former national security adviser, Comey "implored" Sessions to make sure he was never left alone with the president again - but that Sessions didn't respond. As for recusal, Sessions credibly insisted that he withdrew from the Russian Federation investigation not because of any improper contacts on his part with Russian Federation but because of his involvement in the Trump campaign.
Sessions also offered a plausible defense to the argument that he violated the terms of his recusal by participating in the firing of Comey.
LIASSON: Well, he stuck to his - the reasons he gave for Comey's firing in that memo where they blamed Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
"We have not had the attorney general in front of us, and have not had the opportunity to question Attorney General Sessions either about the ongoing operations of the Department of Justice under his leadership, which is supposed to appear before us every year, or about this specific issue relating to the firing of Jim Comey", said Coons.
He didn't declare executive privilege, but he did say it was the policy of the Department of Justice not to talk about conversations with the president.
Asked whether Trump's actions rose to the level of obstruction of justice, Comey testified last week: "I don't know".
Trump said in mid-May the special counsel's probe would show there was "no collusion" between his campaign and a foreign power. He says he stepped aside because Justice Department rules prevent such a conflict of interest.
Hearing underway for frat brothers in Penn St pledge's death
The continuation came after State College Police Detective David Scicchitano was on the witness stand for almost 10 hours Monday. Prosecutors have filed a variety of charges, including involuntary manslaughter, hazing, and tampering with evidence.
Soon after, Trump spoke to Coats and Rogers about the Russian Federation investigation.
The Saturday Night Massacre "released a firestorm of protest, with almost a half million telegrams bombarding the White House in one week", according to the White House Historical Association. Comey was sacked May 9.
It is unclear whether Ledgett had direct contact with Trump or other top officials about the Russian Federation probe, but he wrote an internal NSA memo documenting the president's phone call with Rogers, according to officials. The president asked him to write the letter, he said, so he did. The two important players who have not yet testified in public are the directors of National Intelligence (Dan Coats) and Central Intelligence (Mike Pompeo), both of whom the president also evidently spoke to about pressuring FBI Director Comey.
"I'm not able to characterize that fact", Sessions replied.
Comey's carefully worded comments, and those of Andrew McCabe, who took over as acting Federal Bureau of Investigation director, suggested to some officials that a probe of Trump for attempted obstruction may have been launched after Comey's departure, particularly in light of Trump's alleged statements regarding Flynn.
Mueller is interviewing as early as this week three top intelligence officials as part of the probe, the Post reported, citing "five people briefed on the requests". "I believe its premature for me to deny the president a full an intelligent choice about executive privilege".
Mueller has not publicly discussed his investigation, and a spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment.
Overall, Sessions seemed curiously uncurious about Trump's real motives in firing Comey, or about whether he and Rosenstein had been enlisted to supply what was in effect a cover story. But Comey's testimony obviously increased the pressure. The problem for the president and attorney general is that even if there is no collusion with the Russians, investigations take on a life of their own and this investigation is now about perjury and obstruction of justice.
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