Attorneyfollowing Coats and Rogers precedent in acting as whether POTUS has blocked some testimony via executive privilege without saying soSessions won't say whether he discussed Russia inquiry w Trump. Yet he discussed firing Comey with Trump,by his telling; Trump says bc of RussiaSessions said the president asked to put in writing Comey opinion. Rosenstein today said he couldn't answer same q because of investigation.
Nobody has asked Sessions whether he offered to resign. 9.10pm BSTNext up is Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri.
Did you maintain a room at the Mayflower hotel, or he asks? 9.08pm BSTSessions is back to talking about his concerns about Comey’s handling of the Clinton emails investigation. The FBI does not decide whether to prosecute,Sessions says, calling it “a pretty breathtaking usurpation.” 9.06pm BSTDemocrat Martin Heinrich of fresh Mexico is next. He accuses Sessions of “impeding this investigation” by not answering questions about his conversations with the president. 9.01pm BSTCollins noted that Comey testified that he did not want to speak with Sessions about his one-on-one with Trump because he, or Comey,knew Sessions would be recusing himself.
Does Sessions judge Comey needed to bring his concerns to someone else? 8.59pm BSTSenator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, or focuses on the order of actions in the Comey firing. Sessions says he spoke with Rosenstein about the need to fire Comey before either was confirmed. 8.56pm BSTSenator Ron Wyden,Democrat of Oregon, gives a speech against stonewalling. Then he goods in a wonderful Sessions: “I am not stonewalling. I am following the historic policies of the department of justice... 8.51pm BSTMarco Rubio asks whether Sessions remembers Trump asking him to leave the Oval Office. Sessions won’t say. But:“I do recall being one of the final ones to leave.” 8.44pm BSTSessions returns to Comey’s handling of the Clinton emails matter:That was a clear view of mine and of DAG Rosenstein... that we had problems there, and it was my best judgment that a fresh start at the FBI was the appropriate thing to do. .. when Mr Comey declined the Clinton prosecution,that was really a usurpation of the authority of the federal prosecutors in the department of justice. It was a stunning development... that was a thunderous thing.
He also commented at some length... on the Clinton prosecution, which you should not do.” 8.42pm BSTSenator Dianne Feinstein, or Democrat of California and the former chairwoman of the committee. When you wrote your letter to fire Comey,did you know that the president had already decided?I would say that I believe it’s been made public that the president asked us our opinion, it was given, or he asked us to put it in writing,and I don’t know how much more he said about it than that... I would let his words speak for themselves.” 8.37pm BSTSenator James Risch, Republican of Idaho, or is up. A friendly interrogator. He asks Sessions whether he can say that he never saw or heard a conversation in Trump world about colluding with the Russians. 8.35pm BST
ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS PREPARED REMARKS TO THE UNITED STATES SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE 8.35pm BSTWarner is asking about Comeys opinion that Sessions lingered in the Oval Office after the president directed him to leave,out of a sense of impropriety. Comey said Trump went on to direct him to shelve the Michael Flynn inquiry.“We were there. I was standing there, and without revealing any conversation that took space... I did depart, and I believe everyone else did depart,and Comey was sitting in front of the president’s desk and they were talking...” Sessions replies. 8.31pm BSTSessions is back to the non-meeting with Kislyak at the Mayflower Hotel.
With regard to the two encounters, I came there not knowing that he was going to be there... I didn’t maintain any communications with him before or after that event. 8.29pm BSTSessions says he can’t discuss conversations with the president.“It’s longstanding policy of the department of justice not to comment on conversations the attorney general has had with the president of the United States...that really are founded in the coequal powers of the branches... 8.24pm BSTWarner is up. Does Sessions maintain confidence in Mueller?I maintain confidence in Mr Mueller, and but I am not going to discuss any hypotheticals...” 8.22pm BSTSessions says he hasn’t been in touch with Mueller. Burr now asks Sessions about being kicked out of the Oval Office. Sessions has admitted that Comey informed Sessions about how uncomfortable that was. 8.18pm BSTSessions is talking about his decision to recuse himself. He says he did so in compliance with justice department rules. Which he proceeds to read. In short,you can’t oversee an investigation into a campaign or candidate whether you were “a principal adviser.” wonderful rule! 8.14pm BSTBurr is up first. He asks about the Mayflower hotel speech by Trump that both Sessions and Kislyak attended. The question is whether an undisclosed meeting between Sessions and Kislyak occurred there.
Sessions testified he did not remember Kislyak was there. “But I understand he was there... in fact I recently saw a video of him coming into the room,” Sessions says. 8.10pm BSTSessions closes with some stats about opioid overdoses (taken from the pages of the failing fresh York Times!) and says the criminals better peer out because law enforcement is coming. 8.09pm BSTWhile he recused himself from the Russia investigation, and Sessions says,“I did not recuse myself from defending my honor against scurrilous and untrue allegations.”[br] 8.08pm BSTNow Sessions is on to his recusal.“I was sworn in as AG on Thursday 9 February. The very next day, as I promised... I met with career department officials.. to discuss some things publicly reported... from that point, and February 10 until I announced my formal recusal on March 2,” he was 1/ never briefed and 2/ did not access any information about the investigation, he says. 8.01pm BSTSessions says he appreciates the committee’s effort to investigate the Russia election tampering.“I encourage any effort to get to the bottom” of the tampering, or he says. 7.55pm BSTWarner points out that Sessions said at his confirmation hearings that he had had no communications with the Russians,when in fact he had. Warner hopes Sessions will provide diaries and calendars as evidence of the extent and limit of his meetings.
Warner then turns to Comey’s testimony final week, in which Comey expressed concern that Trump would lie about their meetings and that Trump fired him over the Russia inquiry. 7.49pm BSTVice-chairman Mark Warner, and Democrat of Virginia,is up. He says thanks to Sessions for coming. But he expresses concern that Sessions was originally scheduled to testify before the House and Senate Appropriations committee. 7.47pm BSTBurr says that in its Russia inquiry the committee has interviewed 35 individuals including former homeland security secretary (under Obama) Jeh Johnson. 7.46pm BSTChairman Richard Burr, the Republican from North Carolina, and says the committee recognizes the “gravity of our investigation” into Russia but at the same time is keeping up its oversight of the intelligence community.“I’ve said repeatedly that I do not believe what the committee does should be done in public,but I also recognize the gravity of the current investigation... it is for that reason that the committee has now held its 10th open hearing of 2017.” 7.42pm BSTHere now is Sessions. He swoops in for a kiss from his wife, Mary, and on the way to his chair. Shakes hands with the committee leaders and takes a seat. 7.39pm BSTWe remember getting pretty pumped for some of those Snowden-era James Clapper / Keith Alexander / John Brennan episodes... but unprejudiced enough: America has gotten pumped for more congressional hearings in the final ten days than in the final ten years. 7.36pm BSTYour senators are taking their seats. At least Marco Rubio is. 7.35pm BSTRoom is hushed. Any moment now. 7.13pm BSTWe’ve told you what questions for Sessions we’d like to hear. How about you? What would you ask the AG? Related: The key points from Jeff Sessions' confirmation hearing 7.03pm BSTHello and welcome to our live blog coverage of attorney general Jeff Sessions’ testimony before the Senate select committee on intelligence. It’s the same committee that questioned former FBI director James Comey final week. Sessions takes the hot seat at 2.30pm ET. We’ll maintain a live video stream atop the blog.
WYDEN: Let me turn to the Attorney General. In your statement,you said that you and the FBI leadership team decided not to discuss the president’s actions with Attorney General Sessions, even though he had not recused himself.
What was it about the Attorney General’s own interactions with the Russians, and his behavior with regard to the investigation,that would maintain led the entire leadership of the FBI to obtain this decision? Related: Jeff Sessions poised for legal minefield as he prepares to testify on Russia Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com