A very testy session
CQ Roll Call / Bill Clark
There were many things US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he couldn’t answer during his testimony at Tuesday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.
But one thing he offered up on his own was noteworthy: He said he has never received a detailed briefing on Russian interference in the 2016 election, adding he learns new things about the investigation “in the papers.” [Kyle Griffin via Twitter]
Even though President Trump has not exerted executive privilege to stop Sessions or Comey from testifying in front of Congress, Sessions refused to answer many of the questions posed by senators on Tuesday, saying he needed to check with Trump first to see if the president wanted to invoke executive privilege on individual questions. [Vox / Alex Ward]
The attorney general also vehemently denied colluding with Russian officials while he was a member of the Trump campaign, calling the suggestion “an appalling and detestable lie.” [Washington Post / Sari Horwitz and Matt Zapotosky]
He pushed back on the notion that he had a third, unreported meeting with Russian officials at Washington, DC’s Mayflower Hotel in April 2016, saying that while he may have been in the same place as the Russian ambassador, he did not talk to him. [NYT / Charlie Savage, Emmarie Huetteman, and Rebecca Ruiz]
At this point, there are two distinct questions in the tangled web involving Trump, the firing of FBI Director James Comey, and the Russia investigation: a) whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians as they interfered in the 2016 election, and b) whether Trump committed obstruction of justice by firing Comey.
Sessions is an important figure in both questions. He recused himself from the Russian investigation in February because he had undisclosed meetings with Russian officials, and he was Comey’s boss and recommended the former FBI director be fired. [Vox / Dara Lind]
When it came to questions about conversations he may have had with Trump before Comey’s firing, Sessions remained mum, repeatedly saying he was unable to comment. [NYT / Charlie Savage, Emmarie Huetteman, and Rebecca Ruiz]
But he did tell Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden that he had longstanding criticisms of Comey, so participating in the former FBI director’s firing didn’t violate his recusal from the Russia investigation. [Vox / Alexia Fernández Campbell]
In contrast to Comey’s testimony in front of the same committee a week ago, Sessions and Democratic senators got into heated exchanges. As Sessions said he could not answer questions, Wyden insinuated he was “stonewalling,” and later said Sessions’s explanation for firing Comey “didn’t pass the smell test.” [Washington Post / Devlin Barrett]
www.fotavgeia.blogspot.com
CQ Roll Call / Bill Clark
There were many things US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he couldn’t answer during his testimony at Tuesday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.
But one thing he offered up on his own was noteworthy: He said he has never received a detailed briefing on Russian interference in the 2016 election, adding he learns new things about the investigation “in the papers.” [Kyle Griffin via Twitter]
Even though President Trump has not exerted executive privilege to stop Sessions or Comey from testifying in front of Congress, Sessions refused to answer many of the questions posed by senators on Tuesday, saying he needed to check with Trump first to see if the president wanted to invoke executive privilege on individual questions. [Vox / Alex Ward]
The attorney general also vehemently denied colluding with Russian officials while he was a member of the Trump campaign, calling the suggestion “an appalling and detestable lie.” [Washington Post / Sari Horwitz and Matt Zapotosky]
He pushed back on the notion that he had a third, unreported meeting with Russian officials at Washington, DC’s Mayflower Hotel in April 2016, saying that while he may have been in the same place as the Russian ambassador, he did not talk to him. [NYT / Charlie Savage, Emmarie Huetteman, and Rebecca Ruiz]
At this point, there are two distinct questions in the tangled web involving Trump, the firing of FBI Director James Comey, and the Russia investigation: a) whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians as they interfered in the 2016 election, and b) whether Trump committed obstruction of justice by firing Comey.
Sessions is an important figure in both questions. He recused himself from the Russian investigation in February because he had undisclosed meetings with Russian officials, and he was Comey’s boss and recommended the former FBI director be fired. [Vox / Dara Lind]
When it came to questions about conversations he may have had with Trump before Comey’s firing, Sessions remained mum, repeatedly saying he was unable to comment. [NYT / Charlie Savage, Emmarie Huetteman, and Rebecca Ruiz]
But he did tell Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden that he had longstanding criticisms of Comey, so participating in the former FBI director’s firing didn’t violate his recusal from the Russia investigation. [Vox / Alexia Fernández Campbell]
In contrast to Comey’s testimony in front of the same committee a week ago, Sessions and Democratic senators got into heated exchanges. As Sessions said he could not answer questions, Wyden insinuated he was “stonewalling,” and later said Sessions’s explanation for firing Comey “didn’t pass the smell test.” [Washington Post / Devlin Barrett]
www.fotavgeia.blogspot.com
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