US Attorney General Sessions Facing Questions about Trump-Russia Links

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is testifying Tuesday before a congressional panel, with Democratic lawmakers set to question his recollection of contacts Donald Trump's election campaign had last year with Russian operatives.

In previous testimony, Sessions has repeatedly said he was not aware of any contacts between Trump campaign aides and Moscow.

But since his last appearance before a congressional panel in mid-October, news surfaced that a former Trump campaign foreign affairs adviser, George Papadopoulos, had pleaded guilty in early October to lying to federal agents investigating Trump campaign links to Russia.

Prosecutors said in court records that at one March 2016 meeting, about seven months before the presidential election, Papadopoulos told Sessions, Trump and others that he had connections that could arrange a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sources familiar with the meeting have told U.S. news outlets that Sessions shot down Papadopoulos's idea and the Trump-Putin meeting never occurred in the midst of the campaign.

At his January confirmation hearing to become attorney general, the top U.S. law enforcement position, Sessions said he was unaware of communications between the campaign and Russia, but later acknowledged he himself had met then Russia's then-ambassador to Washington, Sergei Kislyak.

Sessions, appearing before the House Judiciary Committee, is also likely to face questions about his directive for senior federal prosecutors to examine whether it is appropriate to open investigations into a number of issues raised by Republican lawmakers connected to Trump's election challenger, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Committee chairman Rep. Robert Goodlatte, asked Sessions in July and September to appoint a special counsel to investigate allegations of collusion between Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee, issues linked to her use of a private email system while serving as secretary of state, contributions to her family's Clinton Foundation, and an Obama-era purchase of American uranium mines by a Russian-backed company.

The letter also asked for an examination of certain aspects of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd responded in a letter to Goodlatte on Monday that prosecutors would report directly to Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein "as appropriate" and recommend whether any investigations should be opened or expanded. He further pledged the Justice Department "will never evaluate any matter except on the facts and the law."

President Donald Trump has strongly criticized an investigation by former FBI chief Robert Mueller into allegations of Russia's role in the election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in a January report Putin directed an effort to help Trump's chances of winning and to undermine American democracy.

Trump has repeatedly called for more law enforcement scrutiny of Clinton.

"Everybody is asking why the Justice Department (and FBI) isn't looking into all of the dishonesty going on with Crooked Hillary & the Dems...'' Trump tweeted last month.

The president's comments and the move by Sessions brought complaints from Democrats about executive interference with the judicial branch.

"If the AG bends to pressure from President Trump and his allies, and appoints a special counsel to investigate Trump’s vanquished rival, it could spell the end of the DOJ as an independent institution," Rep. Adam Schiff said on Twitter.

Rep. Gregory Meeks said the attorney general's actions were a "political smokescreen" meant to distract from collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

"The President & Sessions just politicized the Dept. of Justice, trampling on this country's sacred rule of law," Meeks tweeted.

Rep. Andy Biggs, who was one of the Republicans who signed onto Goodlatte's letter, said the Justice Department's response is "encouraging," but not as decisive as the lawmakers would have liked.

"We must have an unbiased, independent special counsel to investigate the matters we have raised. We have spent long enough on meaningless evaluations and empty promises," Biggs said in a statement.

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