Sessions defends Comey firing
But refuses to answer Senate hearing questions about his conversations with Trump
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions strongly defended President Donald Trump’s firing of James Comey, but at a Senate hearing Wednesday repeatedly declined to discuss private conversations with the president about the dismissal, frustrating Democratic lawmakers who wanted to link the firing of the FBI director to a broader inquiry into Russian election meddling.
The repeated, often-testy questioning about the Russia investigation, coming even as Sessions spearheads sweeping changes to the Justice Department in the areas of LGBT rights, criminal justice and immigration, illustrates the extent to which the probe continues to shadow Sessions even though he recused himself months ago.
Sessions advised the Senate Judiciary Committee at the outset of his first oversight hearing as attorney general that he would not answer any questions about conversations with the president that he considered confidential.
He largely adhered to that principle during the five-hour hearing, refusing to say what Trump told him about his reasons for wanting to fire Comey and whether Trump confided in him his concern about “lifting the cloud” of the Russia investigation.
Sessions deflected the questions by maintaining that presidents are entitled to have private discussions with Cabinet secretaries, saying at one point, “I do not confirm or deny the existence of any communication between the president that I consider to be confidential.”
Still, Sessions’ defence of the Comey firing — and his insistence that it stemmed from the handling of the Hillary Clinton email case — was consistent with the initial explanation by the White House. It was, he said, “the first time I’m aware of ” in which an FBI director had performed the traditional role of Justice Department prosecutors by announcing on his own the conclusion of a federal investigation — that no charges would be brought against Clinton.
“That was a fairly stunning event for both of us and it did highlight the problem more significantly than it had been before,” Sessions said, referring to Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein.
Though he refused to say whether he discussed with Trump Comey’s involvement in the Russia investigation, he did say that the president had asked him and Rosenstein for their recommendations about what to do with Comey.
But that explanation has been muddled by Trump himself, who days after the May 9 firing said he would have fired Comey even without the Justice Department’s recommendation and that he was thinking of “this Russia thing” when he dismissed him.
The circumstances of Comey’s firing are among many events being investigated by Robert Mueller, who was appointed as the Justice Department’s special counsel to look into whether the Trump campaign co-ordinated with Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.