During his testimony, the Attorney General was asked if he had been given some of the details about the "active measures" used by Russian Federation to interfere in the USA elections - his answer was, no, as Sessions said he had stayed away from anything to do with the matter, to honor his recusal as Attorney General.
Sessions told the Senate Intelligence Committee he had a different reason for not answering certain questions: It's how such matters have been handled in the Justice Department for years.
The attorney general also dodged numerous questions, arguing that he "cannot and will not violate my duty to protect the confidential communications I have with the president", Sessions said. But his former Democratic colleagues pressed him repeatedly on his contacts with Russian Federation and his role in the dismissal of Comey - who led the FBI's probe on Russian Federation until he was ousted.
But Sessions' testimony did little to clear up suspicion about potential collusion between U.S. president Donald Trump's campaign staff and Russian officials, because the attorney general often stopped short of saying definitively that something did or did not happen, and seemed imply he had a limited memory of events that occurred just a year ago. "Comey characterized one way and General Sessions had a different recollection of it", said Florida Senator Marco Rubio. He said he would agree to dismiss Mueller only if there were a legitimate basis to do so. The Justice Department has denied such a meeting occurred.
Such interference can never be tolerated and I encourage every effort to get to the bottom of any such allegations.
Attorney-General Jeff Sessions gave passionate and vehement replies to accusations of collusion with the Kremlin during the presidential election.
The reason why this is really important is because he was asked subsequently by Susan Collins, Republican of ME, if you were recused from all things Russian Federation and from the Russian Federation investigation, why were you involved in firing the guy, James Comey, who was conducting the Russian Federation investigation?
"While he did not provide me with any of the substance of his conversation with the president, Mr Comey expressed concern about the proper communications protocol with the White House and with the president", Sessions said.
Scalise in 'good spirits' before surgery for bullet wound
During the baseball practice, a gunman opened fire and Wenstrup immediately went into medical mode, Alabama Rep. Several other people were also believed to have been hit, according to a lawmaker who witnessed the shooting.
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. Maybe most prominent is the Democrats' insistence that those testifying share conversations they've had with President Trump. "I attended a fair number of meetings on that with President Obama". Sessions continued to argue on Tuesday that his recusal was due to his "principal adviser" role in Trump's campaign and not his contact with Russian officials.
Cooper agreed with Wyden and began asking how the Senate could force Sessions to cooperate.
"I have no knowledge of any such conversations by anyone connected to the Trump campaign", he said. The FBI is part of the Justice Department that Sessions heads.
Sessions charged that "these false attacks, the innuendos and the leaks, you can be sure, will not intimidate me" and said that in the end, the attacks on him have "only strengthened my resolve to fulfill my duty".
"I did not have any private meetings nor do I recall any conversations with any Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel", he said. Do you think there's anything the Democrats can do to get Attorney General Sessions or other Trump administration officials to answer questions when they're not officially invoking executive privilege?
"Lordy, I hope there are tapes", Comey testified last week.
Citing one example, Mr Sessions said it was "stunning" that the ex-FBI chief "usurped" the Department of Justice's authority by announcing that Hillary Clinton would not be prosecuted over her emails.
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