On Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions found himself back in the Senate, testifying on a variety of issues, including Russia.
Sessions told Senators that he will not discuss his conversations with President Trump regarding James Comey’s firing. The only ground that Sessions gave was that his advice in writing was asked for by the President.
Executive Privilege
In his opening remarks, Sessions made it clear that he would not discuss his conversations with President Trump. The attorney general’s reasoning for this is the President’s executive privilege. Trump himself, however, needs to invoke this privilege. Sessions is compelled to answer questions about such conversations until then. He seemed to acknowledge this, but would not budge. “I can neither assert executive privilege, nor can I disclose today the content of my confidential conversations with the president.”
Sessions took the opportunity to take a shot at Mr. Comey and spoke on his handling of Hillary Clinton’s email server. He said “it’s been fully understood the significance of the error that Mr. Comey made.” Whether the allegation that the Trump campaign cooperated with Russians factored into the Trump ouster of Comey, Sessions refused to say. Sessions told Senators that he has not yet been interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
