Jeff Sessions To Testify Before Senate About Russian Election Interference

Attorney General Jeff Sessions will testify in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday to answer questions about Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Sessions had been scheduled to appear before the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday regarding the Department of Justice's budget. In a letter to Rep. John Culberson, the chairman of the committee, Sessions said he would be sending Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in his place.

"Some members have publicly stated their intention to focus their questions on issues related to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, from which I have recused, and for which the Deputy Attorney General appointed a Special Counsel," Sessions wrote.

In his letter, Sessions wrote that in light of former FBI Director Jim Comey's testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, "it is important that I have an opportunity to address these matters in the appropriate forum."

Sessions said he would appear before the Senate committee on Tuesday.

It is not clear if Sessions will testify in an open or closed hearing before the committee.

In Comey's prepared statement before the committee and his testimony on Thursday, the former FBI director mentioned Sessions a handful of times. In his written statement, Comey said that after a counter-terrorism briefing at the Oval Office where President Trump asked everyone to clear the room so he could be alone with the then-FBI director, Sessions lingered in the office leading Comey to believe the Attorney General knew it was inappropriate for the president to be alone with the FBI director.

After that one-on-one meeting where Comey says Trump said to him that he hoped he could let the investigation into former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn go, the FBI leadership team agreed it did not make sense to report the matter to Sessions because they expected him to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. However, it was not clear what led Comey or the senior leadership team at the FBI to believe Sessions would recuse himself from the investigation. Sessions ultimately did recuse himself once it was revealed that he had met with the Russian ambassador but had not disclosed the information to the Senate.

Comey also said in his testimony that he had asked Sessions to prevent any future one-on-one communications between him and the president. Sessions did not respond to Comey and in his testimony, Comey said he took the Attorney General's body language to mean he did not intend to do anything about it though he added that he could be wrong.

AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File