Attorney General Jeff Sessions captivated Washington Tuesday, beating back rumors of a private meeting with Russia's ambassador to the USA and mounting a defense for President Donald Trump, one week after former FBI Director James Comey artfully unloaded on both men. "It is hard to see how he can continue to serve".
What's not clear is if Trump will be forced to invoke executive privilege to stop Sessions from testifying again, or from handing over the documents senators requested Tuesday.
But Tuesday's hearing grew testy as Sessions refused to answer questions about his conversations with Trump, drawing charges of stonewalling from Democrats on the panel.
"Senator Heinrich, I'm not able to share with this committee private communications", said Sessions. But as I advised you, Mr. Chairman, and consistent with long-standing Department of Justice practice, I can not and will not violate my duty to protect confidential communications with the President.
White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters aboard Air Force One as President Trump flew back from Milwaukee today that he watched parts of the hearing, "thought that Attorney General Sessions did a very good job and, in particular, was very strong on the point that there was no collusion between Russian Federation and the Trump campaign".
Investigations are now under way into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
The hearing didn't delve too deeply into the original concern behind the Senate intelligence committee inquiry, which is what Russian actors allegedly did the election to hack emails, and allegedly voting systems, to undermine faith in the U.S. Democratic process. Now you're not answering questions.
But Trump later told a television interviewer that he'd fired Comey over his handling of the Russian Federation investigation.
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The meeting comes a day after lawmakers questioned Justice Department officials about the probe and Mueller's independence, and after a friend of Trump said the White House was considering firing Mueller.
In a testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week, Comey raised red flags when he said that prior to Sessions' recusal, the FBI was aware of information that would have made his continued involvement in the Russian Federation investigation "problematic".
This question will not only have shed more light on whether President Trump understood the full extent of behaviours that may constitute obstruction of justice, which is one of the things the Committee is trying to figure (whether the President tried to obstruct justice).
The attorney general said he may have had an encounter with Kislyak and other ambassadors at President Trump's first major foreign policy campaign speech at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington in April 2016 but could not say either way with certainty.
But Republicans often came to Sessions' defense, reiterating that Comey's firing had to do with his handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe, not Russian Federation, and calling attention to illegal information leaks within the government.
"He didn't recall this, but I responded to his comment by agreeing that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice needed to be careful to follow department policy regarding appropriate contacts with the White House", Sessions told the panel. Comey's decision to announce a year ago that Clinton would not be prosecuted over her emails was a "usurpation" of the Justice Department's authority, Sessions said. "I just don't remember it". "And, in fact, I when made a decision to just do it, I said to myself, 'You know, this Russian Federation thing, with Trump and Russian Federation, is a made-up story.' It's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election". "Further, I have no knowledge of any such conversations by anyone connected with the Trump campaign". Importantly, I recused myself not because of any asserted wrongdoing on my part during the campaign, but because a Department of Justice regulation, 28 CFR 45.2, required it. She was interrupted by her Republican colleague, Sen. "I knew that Director Comey, long-time experienced in the Department of Justice, could handle himself well", Sessions told Sen.
Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee, which is conducting a parallel Russian Federation probe, said on Twitter that Congress "must compel responses using whatever process necessary".
Feinstein has said the Judiciary Committee should investigate, but asked Grassley to keep the investigations separate.
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