U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday denied any improper contacts with Russian officials as he also testified to senators that he has not received any briefing on Russian active measures during the 2016 election.
During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Sen. Angus King (I-ME) asked Sessions if he believed the Russians interfered with the 2016 election. According to a U.S. intelligence assessment on Russian hacking and efforts to meddle in the 2016 election, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a cyber and influence campaign aimed at interfering in the U.S. election and boosting President Donald Trump’s chances.
“It appears so,” Sessions, a senior advisor on the Trump campaign and now senior member of Trump’s Cabinet, replied. “The Intelligence Community seems to be united in that, but I have to tell you, Sen. King, I know nothing but what I’ve read in the paper. I’ve never received any detailed briefing on how hacking occurred or how information was alleged to have influenced the campaign.”
King wanted to know if Sessions had ever asked for a briefing, attended a briefing, or read the intelligence reports related to the IC assessment since joining the administration. The attorney general replied, “You might have been very critical of me if I, as an active part of the campaign, was seeking intelligence relating to something that might be relevant to the campaign.”
King noted that he was not talking about anything related to the Trump campaign, but “about what the Russians did.” “You received no briefing on the Russian active measures in connection with the 2016 election?” King asked.
“No. I don’t believe I ever did,” Sessions said.
Sessions also told senators that he could not “recall” an additional encounter with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at an April 2016 foreign policy speech by then-candidate Trump at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C.
The attorney general said any suggestion that he coordinated with the Russians “is an appalling and detestable lie.”
“Let me state this clearly, colleagues. I have never met with or had any conversation with any Russians or any foreign officials concerning any type of interference with any campaign or election in the United States,” Sessions said. “Further, I have no knowledge of any such conversations by anyone connected to the Trump campaign.”
Sessions refused to answer a number of questions relating to conversations with the president, telling senators he thought it was inappropriate to comment. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) told Sessions that by not responding, “you’re impeding this investigation.”
Sessions noted that he did not have the personal power to invoke executive privilege — and that Trump had not asserted it. The attorney general told senators that “I am protecting the right of the president to assert it if he chooses, and there may be other privileges that may apply.”
The testimony came following former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony to the committee last week that Trump fired him because he did not like the way Comey was handling the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign.
In the wake of Comey’s dismissal, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special prosecutor to oversee the investigation.
Sessions, a senior advisor on the Trump campaign, had recused himself from any involvement in the Russia probe when it became public that he had met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the election and had not disclosed those interactions at his confirmation hearing.
During his Congressional testimony last week, Comey he said he could not elaborate in public on the question of why he believed Sessions would recuse himself from the investigation. “We also were aware of facts that I can't discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a Russia-related investigation problematic,” Comey said last week.
“This is a secret innuendo being leaked out there about me, and I don’t appreciate it,” Sessions said in response to Comey’s comment.
Senators also questioned the attorney general about his involvement in Comey’s firing. Sessions had written a letter to Trump recommending Comey’s dismissal, and initially the president said Comey was fired due to his handling of the investigation into Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s email server and the loss of confidence in the leadership of the FBI by employees.
Sessions told senators that he did not raise any concerns with Comey about his leadership of the FBI. The attorney general, however, did not answer questions about whether he had discussed Comey’s handling of the investigation with the president before the firing.
The president shortly after Comey’s dismissal then said he had been thinking of “this Russia thing” when he made his decision. Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee that he believes that was the reason. “I was fired in some way to change, or the endeavor was to change, the way the Russia investigation was being conducted,” Comey said last week.
Mackenzie Weinger is a national security reporter at The Cipher Brief. Follow her on Twitter @mweinger.
