Attorney General Jeff Sessions' testimony to the Senate Intelligence committee Tuesday will be open to the public. There had been some question as to whether the hearing would be open to the public, but the Justice Department said Monday he requested it be so because he "believes it is important for the American people to hear the truth directly from him".
Sessions had been scheduled to appear Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations Committee to review funding for the Justice Department, which he heads.
Sessions on Tuesday will face questions from the committee as they continue to investigate whether Russian Federation coordinated with the Trump campaign and meddled in the 2016 presidential election. According to long-standing Justice Department guidelines, contact between the White House and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is supposed to be routed through the attorney general or deputy attorney general to avoid the appearance of undue influence.
When one reporter asked Spicer why Trump would hesitate to release the recordings if they were concrete evidence that Comey had lied to the Senate, Spicer simply said Trump would release or not release the tapes at a time that he felt was appropriate.
It is not clear whether Sessions plans to answer all the questions or if he will invoke executive privilege to avoid disclosing private conversations with the president. The president said he is willing to testify under oath on these points.
Angela Merkel urges speedy Brexit talks after UK vote
We will defend the interests of the 27 member states, and Britain will defend its own interests ", she told a press conference. The Prime Minister has insisted the Brexit talks will proceed as planned despite the Conservatives losing their majority.
Once they had left, Comey said, Trump said he hoped that Comey could see his way to "letting go" of the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn's ties with the Russian government.
After the meeting, Comey told Sessions that he did not want to be alone anymore with Trump and "it can't happen that you get kicked out of the room and the president talks to me". "He is a good guy".
In contrast, Comey said he and President Barack Obama only spoke twice in three years, and one of those times was to say farewell. "He didn't say anything". Trump's personal lawyer also challenged Comey's account, saying the president never asked for the investigation to be dropped. He arrived in the job in February eager to launch ambitious efforts to combat violent crime and deport undocumented immigrants.
Sessions has come under heavy scrutiny for not saying in his confirmation hearing that he had meetings with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the lead up to the 2016 election. White House frustrations with the Justice Department spilled into public view last week, when Trump on Twitter criticized the legal strategy in defending his proposed travel ban. Sessions reportedly threatened to resign as tensions with Trump grew.
Comments