Attorney General Jeff Sessions was in for sharp questioning by senators on the Senate Intelligence committee Tuesday.
Democratic Senator Jack Reed said Sunday "there's a real question of the propriety" of Sessions's involvement in Comey's dismissal, because Sessions had stepped aside from the federal investigation into contacts between Russian Federation and the Trump campaign.
Asked about Trump's own contention that the president fired Comey with the Russian Federation probe in mind, and regardless of any recommendation from anyone else, Sessions said: "I guess I'll just have to let his words speak for themselves".
A number of members are concerned Sessions may be attempting to avoid testifying in public by scrapping his previously scheduled Senate and House Appropriations appearances this week, where he was expected to be grilled on issues related to the federal investigation into Russia's efforts to influence the United States election, several sources say. Sen.
The attorney general stepped aside from the Justice Department probe into Russian meddling in the campaign on March 2, the day after The Washington Post reported on two previously undisclosed meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Testifying at a packed Senate hearing, Sessions, who was a close Trump adviser during the battle for the presidency, also rejected any idea of misconduct in the ouster of FBI Director James Comey and vowed to defend his honor "against scurrilous and false allegations".
Reed said he also wants to know if Sessions had more meetings with Russian officials as a Trump campaign adviser than have been disclosed. Northam said he would work to ensure that Democrats take control of the state's House of Delegates, adding it's "time for us to get back on offense and stop playing so much defense".
Republican Senator James Lankford, a member of the intelligence panel, told CBS' "Face the Nation" the decision was not finalized, but "I assume that this will be public".
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As a result of the incident, Penn State President Eric Barron permanently banned the fraternity from the university. In reference to the charges against the fraternity brothers, Piazza's father said he would be "good with 20 years".
"I urge that the committee hold a hearing with the attorney general in the open so that the American people can hear from themselves what he has to say with regard to connections to the Russians and the president's abuse of power", Sen.
Comey's dramatic testimony drew invective from his former boss on Twitter, with Trump dismissing him as a leaker on Friday and a coward on Sunday.
"I am following the historic policies of the Department of Justice. Totally illegal? Very 'cowardly!'" Trump tweeted on Sunday.
Senator Patrick Leahy, the Senate appropriations committee's top Democrat and a member of the Senate judiciary committee, tartly reminded Sessions that both oversee his department.
On Comey's accusations that Trump pressed him to drop the FBI investigation of Flynn, Bharara said "no one knows right now whether there is a provable case of obstruction" of justice.
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of OR aggressively asked Sessions about suggestions arising from Comey's testimony last week that there was something "problematic" about his recusal. Preet Bharara told ABC's "This Week" that Trump was trying to "cultivate some kind of relationship" with him when he called him twice before the inauguration to "shoot the breeze".
Comey also said he believed he was subsequently fired in an effort to undermine the investigation into possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russian Federation to influence the 2016 presidential election.
As for the timing of Sessions' recusal, Comey said the FBI expected the attorney general to take himself out of the matters under investigation weeks before he actually did.
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