Sessions wouldn't describe his conversations with President Donald Trump regarding the firing of FBI Director James Comey, despite the fact that he conceded he does not have the power to invoke executive privilege, and the president has not asserted it.
Those calls have escalated since fired FBI Director Comey cryptically told lawmakers last week that the bureau had expected Sessions to recuse himself weeks before he did from the investigation into contacts between Trump campaign associates and Russian Federation during the 2016 presidential election.
Even before Sessions testified, attention in Washington swivelled to whether Trump might seek to fire Robert Mueller, the former FBI director named last month by the Justice Department to head a federal probe into the Russian Federation issue.
The Post spoke with five unnamed sources, who said that Mueller would be looking into whether Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey constituted obstruction of justice.
Comey contended last week that he specifically asked Sessions not to allow him to be left alone with Trump.
Sessions also refused to answer whether any Justice Department officials had discussed possible presidential pardons of individuals being looked at in the Russian investigations. Sessions said "it appears" Russians attempted to interfere in the election, based on what the intelligence community believes.
But Sessions on Tuesday declined to divulge much information about Comey's firing beyond what was already publicly known.
Comey's decision to announce past year that Clinton would not be prosecuted over her emails was a "usurpation" of the Justice Department's authority, Sessions said. Mr. Trump acknowledged the sacking was motivated in part by the FBI's Russian Federation probe.
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"Certainly I can assure you nothing improper [happened] if I'd had a conversation with him, and it's conceivable that occurred", Sessions said (via The Week). Further, I have no knowledge of any such conversations by anyone connected to the Trump campaign.
Angus King asked a number of questions about the basis for Sessions' refusal to answer questions.
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.
One of those administration officials, Admiral Michael Rogers, head of the National Security Agency, met again with members of the Intelligence Committee in a closed-door session on Monday evening, according to the agency.
A White House spokesman said later that Mr Trump "has no intention" of dismissing Mr Mueller.
Then in a heated exchange Democrat Senator Ron Wyden asked Sessions about Comey's testimony regarding Sessions' recusal. Kamala Harris, who was interrupted while questioning the attorney general.
"It would be premature for me to deny the president a full and intelligent choice about executive privilege", he said.
As for Comey's firing, Sessions told senators that his recommendation had nothing to do with the Russian Federation probe, that he and his second-in-command, Rosenstein, had a "clear view. that we had problems there, and it was my best judgment that a fresh start at the Federal Bureau of Investigation was the appropriate thing to do".
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