Sessions is expected to rebut Comey today
WASHINGTON — After weeks of political tumult, Attorney General Jeff Sessions will face some of his former Senate colleagues today to answer questions about his Russian contacts, his role in firing FBI Director James Comey and whether he has fully stepped aside from the Russia investigations.
The latest Senate intelligence committee hearing will keep attention focused on the Trump administration’s mounting legal and political troubles amid a swirl of Russia-related probes.
Sessions, a former senator from Alabama, was one of Trump’s earliest and most vocal supporters during the campaign last year. He is expected to support the president under oath and to question Comey’s version of events.
Sessions asked to testify after Comey’s dramatic appearance before the same panel last
Thursday. In it, Comey cited Sessions several times, including suggesting that the FBI had additional concerns about the attorney general’s dealings with Russian authorities during the 2016 campaign.
Comey also made clear he did not trust Sessions to keep the president from meddling in the FBI investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and alleged Russian-backed hackers who sought to influence last year’s election, noting that he deliberately kept Sessions in the dark about some of Trump’s comments.
Sessions is likely to be asked about Comey’s version of several key events — including Comey’s statement that in mid-February he pleaded with Sessions to ensure he not be left alone again with the president, which the FBI chief considered inappropriate. Sessions, he said, “didn’t say anything.”
Sessions already has signaled that he will dispute part of that account.
“The Attorney General was not silent; he responded to this comment by saying that the FBI and Department of Justice needed to be careful about following appropriate policies regarding contacts with the White House,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
Sessions also may be asked about the propriety of Comey’s arranging a release of his own memos to a reporter, which Trump described in a tweet Sunday as “very ‘cowardly.’ ”
Comey repeatedly said he did not trust Trump to tell the truth. Sessions may be asked whether he trusts the president’s statements, and whether he also takes notes after their conversations. He may be asked if news reports that he offered to resign are correct.
He almost certainly will be asked if the president sought to pressure him to block the Russia investigation. The nation’s top intelligence officers, in a separate hearing last week, refused to say under oath whether Trump had asked them to intervene.
The Justice Department said in a statement that Sessions asked to testify in public because “he believes it is important for the American people to hear the truth directly from him.”
Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, would not say Monday if the White House will invoke executive privilege to block Sessions from answering some questions. “I think it depends on the scope of the questions,” Spicer said. He also wouldn’t say if Sessions sought permission from the White House before agreeing to testify, adding, “We’re aware of it and we’ll go from there.”
Although he is not in legal jeopardy, Sessions is a figure in the investigations. During his Jan. 10 Senate confirmation hearing, he said in response to a question that he “did not have communications with the Russians.”
After news reports later confirmed that he met twice last year with Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Sessions announced on March 2 that he had recused himself from any role in the FBI’s investigation of Russian meddling in the election or any contacts with the Trump campaign.
Sessions’ deputy, Rod Rosenstein, handed the probe off to a special counsel, Robert Mueller, last month to ensure it maintains independence from the Trump administration.
Senators are likely to ask Sessions about unverified intelligence suggesting he had a third meeting with Kislyak at a reception at a Washington hotel in April 2016. His aides already have denied that any meeting occurred.