Attorney General Jeff Sessions could avoid perilous questions about his conversations with the president by invoking executive privilege – something the White House is not ruling out.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions could avoid perilous questions about his conversations with the president by invoking executive privilege during testimony Tuesday – something the White House is not ruling out.
In the latest blockbuster installment in the Russia probe, Sessions will speak before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday afternoon.
His appearance follows one by fired FBI Director James Comey, who spoke at length about private conversations where he says Trump asked him to give an assurance of his loyalty and asked him to back off an FBI investigation of fired national security advisor Mike Flynn.
Although the White House portrayed Comey’s appearance as a win, it isn’t ruling out invoking privilege for Sessions, which would prevent him from saying everything he knows.
‘I think it depends on the scope of the questions, and to get into a hypothetical at this point would be premature, ‘ said White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday.
It would be difficult for Sessions to avoid talking about his past meetings with Russia’s U. S. ambassador Sergey Kislyak, since he already was forced to acknowledge contacts after it was revealed he hadn’t disclosed them to the Senate during his confirmation.
Other questions are likely to focus on his conversations with Trump leading up to the president’s decision to fire Comey, who was then heading the investigation of Russian election interference.
ABC News reported that Sessions isn’t expected to answer questions about conversations he had with Trump before the Comey firing. The president himself has publicly described his version of those conversations.
Democrats have said that since Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe following his disclosure of his own Kislyak contacts, he should not have taken part in matters relating to Comey’s firing and the hiring of his successor.
Executive privilege isn’t absolute and can be challenged in court. To prevail, the administration can try to claim Sessions’ conversations were private, privileged communication in connection with the president seeking advice to do his official duties.
Comey during his testimony described a moment when Sessions lingered before Trump asked him to talk one-on-one in the Oval Office about what turned out to be the Flynn probe. He also described asking Sessions not to let Trump speak to him alone in the future, and told how he confided in senior staff rather than Sessions, who campaigned with Trump and was the first senator to endorse him.
He said regarding Sessions: ‘We considered whether to tell — the attorney general … we believe rightly he was shortly going to recuse, ‘ but didn’t say why.
CNN reported that during a closed session that followed the public hearing last week, Comey said Sessions may have had a third undisclosed meeting with Russian ambassador to the U. S. Sergey Kislyak.
The president has denied key elements of Comey’s testimony.
‘No collusion, no obstruction. He’s a leaker. But we want to get back to running our great country, ‘ Trump said last week.
