WASHINGTON (AP) Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whose contacts with Russia's ambassador to the US during the presidential campaign have sparked questions, agreed Saturday to appear before the Senate intelligence committee as it investigates alleged Russian meddling in the election. The committee shortly after said the hearing would be open. In explaining the cancellation, Sessions writes that he believed that members of the committees were planning on asking him about "issues related to the investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 election". Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on commerce, justice, science and related agencies, and Rep. John Abney Culberson (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on commerce, justice, science and related agencies. The intelligence panel "is the most appropriate forum for such matters, as it has been conducting an investigation and has access to relevant, classified information", he added.
On Wednesday, written testimony by Comey about his alleged interactions with President Donald Trump was released in which the ex-director noted that he asked Sessions "prevent any future direct communication" between Trump and himself after the two shared a private dinner on January 27 and a one-on-one Oval Office meeting on February 14 that Comey found to be "inappropriate".
"I don't understand why the president just doesn't clear this matter up once and for all", said Sen.
And, given Trump's statement that he had been thinking about the Russian Federation investigation when he chose to fire Comey, the former FBI director expressed doubt when asked whether Sessions had adhered to his recusal. Sessions refused. He may also be under a cloud of suspicion after Comey, in his devastating testimony, suggested the attorney general may have failed to take appropriate steps to protect the Federal Bureau of Investigation chief.
Sessions has been dogged by questions about possible additional encounters with the ambassador. One question is whether Mr. Sessions had any undisclosed meetings with Ambassador Sergei Kislyak or other Russians during the campaign or after Mr. Trump's inauguration. The fact that Sessions would delegate that task to his deputy showed the Russian Federation investigation was distracting him from his core duties.
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Though the Justice Department maintains that it has fully disclosed the extent of Sessions' foreign contacts past year, lawmakers have continued to press him for answers about an April 2016 event at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, where both Sessions and Kislyak attended a foreign policy speech by Trump.
Pressed on the Attorney General's "interactions with the Russians or his behavior with regard to the investigation, " Comey said Sessions "was very close to and inevitably going to recuse himself for a variety of reasons".
Lawmakers, including Al Franken of Minnesota and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, have asked the FBI to investigate and to determine if Sessions committed perjury when he denied having had meetings with Russians.
The letter did not say whether Sessions planned to give public testimony or to appear before the panel behind closed doors.
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