14 June, 2017
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday vehemently rejected the suggestion he colluded with Russian Federation to tilt last year's election in Donald Trump's favor, branding the accusations an "appalling and detestable lie".
It was telling that after several appeals for Sessions to testify, Franken said that if the AG refuses he is going to appeal to Judiciary Committee Chairman and Ranking Member to compel him to testify.
Sessions was adamant he never had a third meeting with the Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Today, Sessions corroborated that the meeting between Trump and Comey had taken place, and that Comey approached him the following day with concerns. "I did not attend any meetings at that event separate", Sessions said.
"The Senate and the American people deserve to know exactly what involvement with the Russian Federation investigation he had before his recusal, what safeguards are in place to prevent his meddling, and why he felt it was appropriate to recommend the firing of Director Comey when he was leading that investigation", said Sen. And it's conceivable that that occurred.
"I guess I'll just have to let his words speak for themselves".
Later, under an intense grilling from Sen. "WOC understand what Kamala Harris is dealing with".
"You said you would solemnly swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth", Heinrich told Sessions.
"Respectfully, you're not answering the question", Wyden said. "It makes me nervous". But Sessions recused himself from the Russian Federation investigation in March after the revelations of the two Kislyak meetings.
Why did Sessions recuse from the Russian Federation investigation?
Comey testified last week that as of February 14, he still believed Sessions had not recused himself - but that he nearly certainly would.
Also, he's not 100% sure that Russian Federation messed with the election, because he's only read news reports about it.
Sessions criticized Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, which the White House had initially cited as the ostensible reason for his firing.
The testimony by Comey marked the latest chapter in a saga that has dogged the Republican Trump's first five months as president and distracted from his domestic policy agenda including major healthcare and tax cut initiatives. Sessions reportedly offered to resign in wake of the president's criticism.
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.
"This is a secret innuendo being leaked out there about me, and I don't appreciate it", Sessions added.
The White House said Trump thinks Sessions "did a very good job" in his testimony.
Just hours before Sessions' appearance, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told a separate Senate panel that there was no reason to consider the removal of Russian Federation special counsel Robert Mueller, despite suggestions that Trump was weighing such an action. But time and again, Sessions returned to lines such as "I am not able to discuss with you or confirm or deny the nature of private conversations that I may have had with the president on this subject or others".
Throughout the proceedings, Sessions stuck to his guns and didn't change his story. Sessions' former advisor, Stephen Miller is now one of the president's top foreign policy advisors and speechwriters.
Sessions' admittedly poor and incomplete memory sharpened up considerably when the time came to discuss a fateful meeting between Comey and Trump in the Oval Office in February.
He is amicable with the Russian government and met officials prior to the 2016 election. Jim Risch muttered, "doesn't seem like it".
Session responded, getting visibly upset as he began to raise his voice.
Other Democrats also lost their patience with Sessions.
Sessions did not ask the White House about whether Trump was invoking executive privilege over his testimony and Trump did not opt to assert the privilege, a senior administration official said Tuesday. "I felt I was required to under the rules of the Department of Justice".
US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions could not have been any clearer on his position on the issue of collusion.
