REFRESH FOR UPDATES – OLDER UPDATES IN EXTENDED ARTICLE
5:07PM ET: Committee Chairman Sen. Burr thanks Sessions for participating in a continuing dialogue. Burr: You have helped us tremendously. The hearing has been adjourned.
5:05PM ET: Sessions: I do want to say that a change at the top of the FBI should have no impact on the Russian investigation.
5:01PM ET: Sessions says that it’s “very disturbing” that the Russians continue to push “hostile” actions in their foreign policy. McCain asks if there’s a strategy to deal with the Russian threat. Sessions says there is not. Sessions: All of Congress is going to have to do better.
4:57PM ET:
Markets hit record high. Senate Dems continue their OBSTRUCTION. America is roaring back without them and despite them! #MAGA"
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 13, 2017
4:45PM ET: Senator John Cornyn (R-TX): Is it true that the Russian investigation didn’t factor into your decision to fire Director Comey? Sessions: That is correct.
4:40PM ET: VIDEO: “I’m not able to be rushed this fast — it makes me nervous,” AG Jeff Sessions says while answering questions from Sen. Kamala Harris.
"I'm not able to be rushed this fast — it makes me nervous," AG Jeff Sessions says while answering questions from Sen. Kamala Harris. pic.twitter.com/CG1nUYwh3M
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 13, 2017
4:29PM ET: VIDEO: AG Sessions lists a group of Trump officials he has ‘no recollections’ of meeting with Russian officials
"I don't recall any of those individuals having any meeting with the Russian officials," AG Sessions says of Trump campaign associates. pic.twitter.com/VBmGy7JOaP
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 13, 2017
4:24PM ET: Senator James Lankford (R-OK) starts questioning, defending Sessions’ position that conversations with the president should remain private. Lankford says there’s a “long history” of keeping such conversations confidential.
4:16PM ET: Trump Jr: “Markets up again as dems messaging gets destroyed in these hearings” 
4:05PM ET: VIDEO: Sen Heinrich Goes OFF! “You took an oath…And now you’re not answering questions. You’re impeding this investigation.”
Sen Heinrich: “You took an oath…And now you’re not answering questions. You’re impeding this investigation.” pic.twitter.com/0khsPNZvM8
— David Mack (@davidmackau) June 13, 2017
4:02PM ET: Sessions refuses to answer a question asking if President Trump has ever expressed concern over Sessions’ performance as Attorney General.
3:54PM ET: Wyden: Why did you sign the letter recommending the firing of Director Comey when it violated your recusal? Sessions say it didn’t violate his recusal. Wyden says that Sessions’ answer doesn’t “pass the smell test.”
3:52PM ET: Sessions: There’s a secret innuendo out there being leaked about me and I don’t appreciate it.
3:49PM ET: Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) starts his questioning, says he’s fed up with “stonewalling.” Sessions: I am not stonewalling. I am following the historic polices of the department of justice.
3:46PM ET: VIDEO: Rubio: Do you know if the president records conversations in the White House? Sessions says he does not.
Sessions says he does not know if the President records conversations in the White House https://t.co/ktSiFF7yGW https://t.co/eb3J8XDd7k
— CNN (@CNN) June 13, 2017
3:35PM ET: Sessions: Comey did not tell me “any details about anything that was said that was improper” from his conversation with Trump.
3:34PM ET: JUST IN: Department of Justice releases Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ prepared remarks – (Full Text)
JUST IN: Department of Justice releases Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ prepared remarks – (Full Text) – https://t.co/mH3hROJOAf pic.twitter.com/3HFpFMMZMR
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 13, 2017
3:32PM ET: Sen. Warner: James Comey “expressed concern about being left alone with the president,” AG Sessions testifies. “But that in itself is not problematic.”
3:30PM ET: VIDEO: Q: Did Trump campaign’s foreign policy team ever meet?
Sessions: (laughs) A couple of times, maybe… We never functioned as a coherent team
Q: Did Trump campaign’s foreign policy team ever meet?
Sessions: (laughs) A couple of times, maybe… We never functioned as a coherent team pic.twitter.com/6CEU4hfyxx— David Mack (@davidmackau) June 13, 2017
3:27PM ET: AG Sessions just said he doesn’t think its “good policy” for Trump cabinet members to keep testifying before Congress
3:24PM ET: AG says he has confidence in special counsel Robert Mueller; says he has “no idea” whether Pres. Trump maintains confidence in Mueller.
3:22PM ET: Attorney General Jeff Sessions tells Senate Intelligence Committee he has no knowledge beyond what has been publicly reported of the federal investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, from which he has recused himself.
3:20PM ET: VIDEO: The suggestion I “participated in” or was “aware of” any collusion with Russian gov’t is an “appalling and detestable lie,” AG Sessions says
The suggestion I “participated in” or was “aware of” any collusion with Russian gov’t is an “appalling and detestable lie,” AG Sessions says pic.twitter.com/fZoEEcjHVl
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 13, 2017
3:17PM ET: Sessions defends his remarks to Franken during his confirmation hearing:
“He asked me a rambling question that included dramatic, new allegations that the United States intelligence community had advised President-elect Trump that ‘there was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump’s surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government,'” he said. “I was taken aback by these explosive allegations.”
3:11PM ET: Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified at a Senate hearing on Tuesday that he did not have a third undisclosed meeting with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak as he denied any notion that he colluded with Russian officials during President Donald Trump’s campaign.
“The suggestion that I participated in any collusion or that I was aware of any collusion with the Russian government to hurt this country, which I have served with honor for over 35 years, or to undermine the integrity of our democratic process, is an appalling and detestable lie,” Sessions said before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Sessions had been forced to clarify remarks from his confirmation hearing in January that he did not have communications with Russian officials when two previous meetings with Kisylak surfaced earlier this year. But the Justice Department has repeatedly denied that a third meeting took place, reportedly at the Mayflower Hotel in April 2016.
“I did not have any private meetings nor do I recall any conversations with any Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel,” Sessions said on Tuesday.
2:50PM ET: Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr laid out what he hoped to address during Sessions’ testimony on Tuesday in his opening remarks.
Here’s what he said:
Attorney General Sessions, this venue is your opportunity to separate fact from fiction and to set the record straight on a number of allegations reported in the press. For example, there are several issues that I am hopeful we will address today:
Did you have any meetings with Russian officials or their proxies on behalf of the Trump campaign or during your time as Attorney General?
What was your involvement with candidate-Trump’s foreign policy team, and what were their possible interactions with Russians?
Why did you decide to recuse yourself from the Government’s Russia investigation? And,
What role, if any, did you play in the removal of then-FBI Director Comey?
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One Response
> Wyden: Why did you sign the letter recommending the firing of Director Comey when it violated your recusal? Sessions say it didn’t violate his recusal. Wyden says that Sessions’ answer doesn’t “pass the smell test.”
I see. Sessions bought a candy bar which is taxed. The tax money goes to pay the salary of Comey (at the time). Thus buying a candy bar violates Session’s recusal. So it is manifestly clear now that the reason Sessions had to fire Comey was so that he could but a candy bar without violating his recusal. Glad to see that is now clarified.
But turning serious, what really does not pass the smell test is that Comey deliberately leaked information with the admitted intention of forcing the creation of a special counsel which just happens to be his good friend. And why isn’t this special counsel investigating the fact that the NYT on 11 May published all the same leaked information that Comey alleges he only leaked after Trumps’ 12 May tweet?