Should not have been
confirmed for failure to disclose information
(Alabama Weasel – L: Mustela
Frenata Sessionsus)
EXTRACTED FROM THE AP – SESSIONS TESTIMONY:
AG
Jeff Sessions testimony to the Senate Intelligence committee (June 14) will be
open to the public. Sessions is expected to face sharp questioning from his
former Senate colleagues about his role in the investigation into contacts
between Trump campaign associates and Russia during the 2016 election.
The
DOJ said Sessions had requested that the committee hearing be open because he “believes
it is important for the American people to hear the truth directly from him.”
Sessions
follows fired FBI Director James Comey and his riveting session before the same
Senate panel only a week earlier. Comey spoke of receiving pressure from
President Trump to drop a probe into former NSC Adviser Michael Flynn and his
contacts with Russia. Comey's remarks in turn drew an angry response from Trump
in a couple of tweets and open press Q&A with the president of president on
Friday accusing Comey of lying.
Trump's
aides have dodged questions about whether conversations relevant to the Russia
investigation have been recorded, and so has the president. Republicans have
pressed Trump to say whether he has tapes of private conversations with Comey
and provide them to Congress if he does — or possibly face a subpoena.
“I
don't understand why the president just doesn't clear this matter up once and
for all,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
a member of the intelligence committee, referring to the existence of any
recordings. She described Comey's testimony as “candid and thorough” further
she said she would support a subpoena of any tapes if needed.
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) also a member
of that committee, agreed the panel needed to hear any tapes, if they exist, and
said: “We've obviously pressed the
White House.” Lankford also said Sessions' testimony will help flesh out the
truth of Comey's allegations, including Sessions' presence at the White House
in February when Trump asked to speak to Comey alone. Comey alleges that Trump
then privately asked him to drop a probe into former national security adviser
Michael Flynn's contacts with Russia.
Comey
also said that Sessions did not respond to when he complained he didn't “want
to get time alone with the president again.” The DOJ has denied that saying in
part that Sessions stressed to Comey the need to be careful about following
appropriate policies.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) said: “There's a real question of the propriety" of
Sessions' involvement in Comey's dismissal, because Sessions had stepped aside
from the federal investigation into contacts between Russia and the Trump
campaign since Comey was leading that probe.” Reed said he also wants to know
if Sessions had more meetings with Russian officials as a Trump campaign adviser
than have been disclosed,
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), also a member of that committee, sent a letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) urging him
to investigate possible obstruction of justice by Trump in Grassley's position
as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. She also said Sessions should testify before
the Judiciary Committee, because it was better suited to explore legal
questions of possible obstruction. Feinstein said she was especially concerned
after DNI Dan Coats and NSA Director Michael Rogers refused to answer questions
from the intelligence committee about possible undue influence by Trump.
Sessions
stepped aside in March from the federal investigation into contacts between
Russia and the campaign after acknowledging that he had met twice last year
with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
He told lawmakers at his January confirmation hearing that he had not met with
Russians during the campaign. Since then Sessions has been dogged by questions
about possible additional encounters with the Russian Ambassador.
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. Comey declined to elaborate in an open setting.
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EXTRACTED FROM THE
WASHINGTON POST – SAME TESTIMONY:
AG Jeff Sessions could be at the center of two controversies in the Trump
administration: whether Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russia to help
Trump win and whether the president obstructed justice.
That's
why it's a big deal that he'll testify Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence
Committee, the main committee in Congress investigating Russian meddling in the
campaign and potential Trump meddling in the fallout.
Here are reasons why Sessions is at the
center of so much, and here's how he can help us better understand the
still-unraveling Trump-Russia-FBI investigation:
(1) He met with Russians
during the campaign, when they were allegedly trying to help Trump win:
Besides
Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Sessions is the highest-profile member of
Trump's campaign and administration who we know met with Russians during the
2016 campaign and didn't disclose doing so. Sessions didn't disclose those meetings
when he was asked, under oath, during his confirmation hearing. A day after The Washington Post reported
that, Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation.
Why that's a big deal: It's normal for U.S. political campaigns and foreign
officials to talk. But former CIA director John Brennan recently told Congress
that his “radar” went off anytime Russians met with the Trump campaign because
he knew the Russians were trying to influence the election, and he knew they
often did that by trying to recruit “either wittingly or unwittingly” U.S.
officials to help.
What Congress will want to know: A lot, like are there more meetings Sessions had that
he didn't disclose? Why isn't he forthcoming about these meetings? What did
Russia want to talk about? Did he get the feeling Russians were trying to
recruit him or others for anything?
(2) He was James B. Comey's boss when
Comey said Trump was trying to interfere in the FBI's Russia investigation:
Sessions
is a starring character in the fired FBI chief's testimony. Comey testified
last week that Trump shooed Sessions out of the Oval Office so he could be
alone with Comey, then asked Comey to back off the FBI's investigation of fired
national security adviser Michael T. Flynn. “My sense was the attorney general
knew he shouldn't be leaving, which is why he was lingering,” Comey told the
Senate Intelligence Committee.
Comey
later told Sessions that he didn't want to be alone with the president. But
Comey said he didn't tell Sessions why he was so concerned and testified: “We
considered whether to tell the attorney general, decided that didn't make sense
because we believed, rightly, that he was shortly going to recuse.”
Why this is a big deal: A few reasons. Did Sessions suspect that Trump was
trying to interfere in the FBI's various investigations of Flynn and Russian
meddling? And what did he do about it? Also, why did Comey think he couldn't
trust Sessions?
What questions Congress will want to
know: Pretty much everything above.
(3) Sessions has
technically recused himself from the Russia investigation:
Comey left open the possibility that
Sessions had violated his recusal asking: “If, as the president said, I was fired because of the Russia
investigation, then why was the attorney general involved in that chain?”
The
Washington Post reported that Trump called Sessions up to the White House to
talk about firing Comey, then asked Sessions (and his No. 2, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein) to
explain in writing the case against Comey. The Post also recently reported that
Sessions offered to resign, in part because of Trump's frustration that he
stepped aside from the Russia investigation.
Why this is a big deal: Sessions is a Trump ally, and he appears to be caught
between the president and his promise to run the Justice Department in an
apolitical way. In his confirmation
hearing, Sessions promised: “You simply have to help the president do
things that he might desire in a lawful way and have to be able to say no, both
for the country, for the legal system and for the president, to avoid
situations that are not acceptable.”
What Congress will want to know: Where does Sessions draw the line on recusal? Can he
be trusted to not interfere in the department's independent Russia
investigation, which is now being led by a special counsel?
Possible Key Outcome Question: What if it comes down to the DOJ having to choose who
to believe, Comey, Special Counsel
Robert S. Mueller, or President Trump, whom will Sessions choose? If
Sessions is still recused, then he cannot answer – so who would? The #2 who
helped draft the letter saying Comey should be fired and this is why? Certainly
can’t be him or Sessions for obvious reasons.
Folks this is messy and sticky without doubt and I firmly believe it is
the strategy of Trump as part the “deal” or as he says, “The Art of the Deal.”
How many more shoes can drop before “We the People” know the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
A very long time, I suspect. Stay close to this one – it’s big – maybe
the biggest in nation’s history by far.
Thanks for stopping by.
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