Another explosive testimony is expected on Tuesday after Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Monday the hearing will be public. The AG agreed to give his testimony so he could explain his role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey who testified on Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The senators also want to hear from Sessions if President Donald Trump tried to interfere with the FBI investigation of his campaign team which reportedly colluded with Russian officials in the 2016 election. Sarah Isgur Flores, the spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, said that Sessions preferred a public testimony because it is important for Americans to hear the truth directly from the AG, Bloomberg reported.
Tension with Trump
The Senate confirmed Sessions’ appointment as AG on Jan. 20. Sessions, however, after just a few months in office, was reported to have offered to resign his position. The reason behind his offer is that Trump is angry at Sessions after he recused himself from the Russian investigation because he failed to disclose in his security clearance that he met a Russian official when he was a senator.
The original schedule of the AG is to testify on Tuesday with the House and Senate Appropriations subcommittee panels. He will instead send Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Comey’s testimony did more damage to Sessions than Trump
The NPR noted that when Comey told the Senate that he expected Sessions to recuse himself from the Russian investigation, the AG did it because “of reasons that are classified.” It did not exactly match what Sessions said when he announced in early March he would recuse himself from the Russian investigation.
In his opening statement on Thursday, Comey said the FBI team decided not to share with the AG what transpired between the FBI director and Trump who pressured Comey to drop the investigation on Michael Flynn, the former National Security Adviser. Comey said it made little sense to report what happened to Sessions because of expectations he will likely recuse himself.
In less than two weeks, Comey was proven right because the AG recused himself.
Comey explained that he is aware of facts about Session’s recusal that he cannot explain in an open session which would make the AG’s continued engagement in a probe on Russia problematic. On March 2, Sessions said he should not be involved in investigating a campaign he had a role in as an advisor and high-profile surrogate to Trump.
