Jeff Sessions Testifies: 'I Am Not Stonewalling'

WASHINGTON, DC — When President Trump asked the attendees of a counter-terrorism discussion in the Oval Office to leave him alone for an unorthodox meeting with then-FBI Director James Comey in mid-February, Attorney General Jeff Sessions lingered. According to testimony from both Comey and Sessions, the attorney general was one of the last of the group to leave the room before a now-famous discussion took place. Comey says the president asked him one-on-one to "let go" of a federal investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, a request that crosses traditional ethical boundaries in the executive branch and some say verges on obstruction of justice.

President Trump denies this version of events, but both Comey and Sessions have testified that the next day the then-FBI director asked the attorney general to prevent any future one-on-one interactions between him and the president. In Comey's account of events, this request was met with silence; Sessions says he responded by putting the onus on Comey to prevent further such discussions. Comey would end up in private conversations with the president two more times, his written testimony explains, before he was summarily fired from his position.

These events lay at the center of the most recent political tumult for an administration already beset by controversy. When Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified under oath Tuesday afternoon before the Senate Intelligence Committee, he offered an impassioned defense of his role in the continuing investigation, but he refused to answer any questions about his conversations with President Trump, citing a legal justification that perplexed several of his interlocutors.

Sessions also surprised lawmakers from both parties when he said he has never received any intelligence briefing on Russian involvement in the 2016 election. Sessions' testimony followed Comey's, who appeared before the committee last week and testified that he felt Trump's interactions with the FBI and the Justice Department were inappropriate, and that he feared Trump would lie about their encounters.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein also appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, discussing some issues that touched on Comey's testimony. Comey mentioned Sessions several times in his testimony, saying that he asked the attorney general to not leave him and Trump alone together. Comey said that Sessions did not respond to this request, but Sessions said he told Comey to follow Justice Department policy, while implying that Comey subsequently failed to do so. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Sessions said there was nothing wrong with the president reaching out to Comey as FBI director but that it would be improper for a department employee to share information with Cabinet or White House officials about an ongoing investigation without prior approval.

Sen. Richard Burr, chair of the Intelligence Committee, said there were four main questions for Sessions to address.

Senators on the committee wanted Sessions to tell his side of this story and provide an explanation about his false testimony before the Senate during his confirmation hearings. During that hearing, Sessions said he never met with the Russians during the presidential campaign; he later backtracked, citing two meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

But in his testimony Tuesday, Sessions denied that he ever said anything false — even though he explicitly had said that he had never met with the Russians. He said that in context, what he said was true, because he was responding to Sen. Al Franken's question about routine contact with Russian officials. Sessions said the idea that he had secret meetings with the Russians was an "appalling and detestable lie."

"I have never met with or had any conversation with any Russian or any foreign officials concerning any type of interference," Sessions added. He also said that he recused himself "not because of any asserted wrongdoing" but because of the department's rules.

Reports suggest that there may have been another meeting with Kislyak at the Mayflower Hotel in April 2016 that Sessions did not reveal, but the attorney general denied these stories, saying he did not recall any such meetings.

“I can assure you nothing improper, if I had a conversation with him," he said. Outstanding questions on this front leave open the possibility that Sessions might have perjured himself during his confirmation hearing, a charge for which some believe the attorney general should resign his post. “I could say that I possibly had a meeting but I still do not recall it.”

Asked whether he had any information about the reported potential firing of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who now oversees the Russia investigation, Sessions said he had no knowledge about that. He also said it would be inappropriate for him to be involved in any decision to terminate Mueller, whom Sessions said he had full confidence in because of his recusal.

When Trump fired Comey, he cited Sessions' recommendation along with that of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in justifying the decision. Many questioned the attorney general's role in Comey's firing, given his official recusal from the bureau's Russia investigation. Sessions recused himself after his undisclosed meetings with Kislyak were revealed.

Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, noted in his opening testimony: "You recused yourself from the Russia investigation, yet you participated in the firing of Mr. Comey."

Sessions said he never discussed any of the reasons Rosenstein presented for firing Comey with the then-FBI director before he was fired. Asked whether he discussed the termination of Comey with the president, Sessions said he could not comment on personal conversations with the president. He said this was longstanding communications policy, but he did not explicitly invoke executive privilege.

In a testy exchange with Oregon Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden, Sessions denied he was stonewalling in his testimony. Wyden referred to Comey's testimony that there were reasons Sessions had to recuse himself that the former FBI director could not discuss publicly, but Sessions denied that there were any such reasons.

"Why don't you tell me?" Sessions said, raising his voice. "There are none."

Sen. Martin Heinrich, a Democrat of New Mexico, accused Sessions of impeding and obstructing the investigation for failing to answer questions about his conversations with the president. Sessions said it was not appropriate for him to answer without giving the president the option to review the questions, though again, he said he was not (and could not) invoke executive privilege.

Asked whether Sessions believed Russia intervened in the 2016 presidential election, he said it "appears so." He went on to say that he's never been briefed on the issue.

Sen. Kamala Harris, a California Democrat, pushed Sessions on the fact that his statements contained frequent qualifications of "I do not recall..." and similar statements. Sessions responded that he was just trying to be careful, saying, "I'm not able to be rushed this fast. It makes me nervous."

She pressed on whether he could identify a specific policy that prevents him from testifying about his conversations with the president, but he did not answer the question directly.

Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat of Rhode Island, pointed out that though Sessions now defends the firing of Comey based on his treatment of Hillary Clinton during the investigation into her emails, at the time, Sessions praised Comey's actions. Reed suggested that the purported justification for Comey's firing was a "cover story" for the real reason, which was tied to the Russia investigation.

Watch a replay of the event below.

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