For those who don't know, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is an American politician and lawyer who is the 84th Attorney General of the United States.
Why is Sessions testifying?
Jeff Sessions stated publicly to Congress that he would be testifying publicly. Amid allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, Sessions may have some insight the rest of us do not, including the reason behind the firing of FBI director James Comey. Jeff Sessions is viewed as an optical to those who would rather see the attorney general focus on politics rather than justice.
Sessions' testimony was done publicly and live streamed on YouTube, courtesy of Golden State Times.
Thus far, there have been 5 hearings on Russian interference according to the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr. After a short speech, the vice chairmen, Mark Warner, stated his concern by the process of which they are seeing the attorney general. Sessions was scheduled to testify in front of other committees, such as the judicial committee, and had canceled these testimonies so that he could testify in front of the intelligence committee. The vice chairmen hoped that the attorney general would reschedule testimonies that were canceled so that he can testify, after which he moved to the subject of the discussion.
Given the position Jeff Sessions held, some are questioning his connections.
The first question asked was "why did you recuse yourself from the investigation, despite the previous attorney general's investigation?"
The opening speech of Sessions testimony.
In His opening speech, Sessions explained his recuse:
"I presented my concerns to the President about the ongoing problems with the leader of the FBI It is absurd to suggest a recluse would disqualify an attorney general from his position." said Sessions " Comey expressed concern with appropriate communication, Sessions agreed, and suggested that procedure should be followed.
"I recused myself, not because of any assertive wrongdoing, but based on regulation. I Recused myself-myself because the rules put out by the DOJ, CFR 45.2 which reads Unless authorized under paragraph (b) of this section, no employee shall participate in a criminal investigation or prosecution if he has a personal or political relationship with:
(1) Any person or organization substantially involved in the conduct that is the subject of the investigation or prosecution; or
(2) Any person or organization which he knows has a specific and substantial interest that would be directly affected by the outcome of the investigation or prosecution.
I took the position not to involve myself in any way" says sessions.
"Any suggestion of my collusion of any event that would hurt this country is an appalling and outright lie. Senator Franklin asked me a rambling question, which included the US Intelligence Community, that there was a continuing communication between Trump and the Russians, as alleged by Senator Franklin Sessions vehemently denies any and all contact involving Russians" Stated sessions in his opening speech. Jeff Sessions provided to the media a list of all contact he has had with Russian ambassadors AFTER his appointment to the attorney general. Sessions claims never to have been briefed on any details or access any information outside of information received on the decision to recuse himself.
