# Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions vs. the Senate Intelligence Committee **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 11, 2017, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667 "2017-06-11T04:10:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/1 "2017-06-11T04:10:36Z")
[Attorney General Jeff Sessions has agreed to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee! > [@](#): > > In a letter Saturday to Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., Sessions said that he had been scheduled to discuss the Justice Department budget before House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees but that it had become clear some members would focus their questions on the Russia investigation. Shelby chairs the Senate appropriations subcommittee. > > Sessions said his decision to accept the intelligence committee’s invitation to appear was due in part to Comey’s testimony. He wrote that “it is important that I have an opportunity to address these matters in the appropriate forum.” He said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would appear before the subcommittees. > > Briefing congressional appropriators on the Justice Department’s budget is a critical part of the attorney general’s job. The fact that Sessions would delegate that task to his deputy showed the Russia investigation was distracting him from his core duties. > > Sessions did not say in the letter whether his appearance would be in public or behind closed doors. ]([http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US\_SESSIONS\_CONGRESS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-10-21-47-11](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SESSIONS_CONGRESS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-10-21-47-11))Public or private? And what will he say? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/2 "2017-06-11T10:32:12Z")
Looks like General Beauregard is trying to retreat. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/3 "2017-06-11T11:49:35Z")
He’ll say everything is swell, your so-called government will wipe the dust off their hands and say “well, glad that’s behind us now” and the Republicans will continue to strip your country for parts. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/4 "2017-06-11T12:40:45Z")
… and he has cancelled the hearing. [https://thinkprogress.org/amp/p/f8874373e4f?gi=df7725524b2e](https://thinkprogress.org/amp/p/f8874373e4f?gi=df7725524b2e) Guess he lawyered up. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/5 "2017-06-11T13:50:01Z")
Anyone on the Trump side with two brain cells to rub together\* will stay as far away from those hearing (and the related investigations) as they possibly can. As David Brooks noted on the PBS News Hour Friday, the Whitewater investigation went on for 7 years. \*Yeah, I know. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/6 "2017-06-11T13:55:47Z")
**JohnT** , the article you linked is about how Atty. Gen. Sessions will not be testifying before the House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees; Assistant AG Rod Rosenstein will testify in his stead (which is mentioned in the text I quoted in the OP). AFAIK, Sessions is still scheduled to speak before the SIC next week. When I started this thread, I didn’t want to quote a wall of text and so I didn’t post this bit: > [@](#): > > Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said he was troubled that Sessions wouldn’t appear before the appropriations panel and that the apparent reason was “he does not want to discuss the scope of his recusal from the investigation regarding the 2016 presidential campaign as well as his significant interactions with Russian officials.” > > “These are dark times if the attorney general of the United States is unwilling to answer questions under oath in an open session about his conduct or defend this administration’s budget,” Schatz said in a statement. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/7 "2017-06-11T13:57:40Z")
Gotcha. I was wondering how you and I could be reading two different things from the same action. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/8 "2017-06-11T14:01:39Z")
No worries, **JohnT**. BTW, I found this in the article you linked to: > [@](#): > > It was later reported that Comey privately told the Senate Intelligence Committee that **Sessions was involved in a third undisclosed meeting with Russian officials during the campaign. During his confirmation hearing, Sessions testified under oath that he had no meetings with Russian officials during the campaign. He later admitted to two meetings.** > > Instead of testifying publicly before the appropriations committees, where these matters could be discussed in the light of day, Sessions will appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The Washington Post and USA Today report that Sessions’ appearance is expected to be closed. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/9 "2017-06-11T14:07:48Z")
He’s gonna say “I thought you already knew I was lying after the first time I told you I didn’t meet with the Russians. Are we going to have to do this every time?”. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/10 "2017-06-12T00:01:48Z")
I see on the AP now that AG Sessions is scheduled to testify Tuesday; still no definitive word on whether it will be public or private testimony. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’s public. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/11 "2017-06-12T12:45:13Z")
[At least one Senator thinks AG Sessions testimony should be public: > [@](#): > > “I urge that the committee hold a hearing with the attorney general in the open,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a member of the committee, said on Sunday. ]([http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US\_TRUMP\_RUSSIA\_PROBE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-12-03-55-26](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TRUMP_RUSSIA_PROBE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-12-03-55-26)) I’m guessing that we’ll find out later today which it’ll be. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/12 "2017-06-12T13:52:23Z")
I think it should be private. Not because it’s anything secret, but because any time you have a bunch of politicians conducting a hearing in public their entire focus becomes saying things that get them on TV and/or which they can use for their political campaigns. (You saw this with the Comey hearings, especially K. Harris, who reeled off a whole bunch of “questions” that she knew Comey wasn’t going to answer, and she barely paused for him to decline to do so.) I think Sessions has an obligation to testify to Congress, but does not have an obligation to allow himself to be used a political prop. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/13 "2017-06-12T13:54:19Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > I think it should be private. Not because it’s anything secret, but because any time you have a bunch of politicians conducting a hearing in public their entire focus becomes saying things that get them on TV and/or which they can use for their political campaigns. (You saw this with the Comey hearings, especially K. Harris, who reeled off a whole bunch of “questions” that she knew Comey wasn’t going to answer, and she barely paused for him to decline to do so.) > > I think Sessions has an obligation to testify to Congress, but does not have an obligation to allow himself to be used a political prop. That’s gotta be the most ridiculous reason I’ve ever heard for testimony to be given in private. ---
**Author:** ![quimper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7c8e57/32.png) [@quimper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quimper)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/14 "2017-06-12T13:55:59Z")
We’ve probably heard the last public words from Jeff Sessions beyond ‘no comment’ and ‘I want to invoke the 5th’ > [@Sen Al Franken](#): > > “I think that he did not answer truthfully under oath,” Franken said. > > Todd pressed him further, and Franken said that Sessions not only lied but also responded in a “terrible” way. > > “Yeah I think he did [lie to Congress],” Franken said. > > Franken was referring to Sessions’ nondisclosure of meetings with the Russian ambassador. Sessions and the Justice Department maintain that he did not need to disclose two routine meetings with the Russian envoy, but Franken is seeking evidence that Sessions met with the Russians other times. > > Franken said, “Sen. [Patrick] Leahy and I wrote a private letter to then-director Comey to investigate if there were other meetings, specifically a third meeting at the Mayflower hotel, and we’ll hopefully get to the bottom of that.” > > [http://freebeacon.com/national-security/franken-accuses-sessions-perjury-yeah-think/](http://freebeacon.com/national-security/franken-accuses-sessions-perjury-yeah-think/) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/15 "2017-06-12T15:40:09Z")
[Open it is! > [@](#): > > Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he wants his testimony before the Senate intelligence committee to be open to the public. > > The Justice Department says Sessions has requested Tuesday’s committee hearing be open because he “believes it is important for the American people to hear the truth directly from him.” ]([http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US\_TRUMP\_RUSSIA\_PROBE\_THE\_LATEST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-12-11-22-18](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TRUMP_RUSSIA_PROBE_THE_LATEST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-12-11-22-18)) ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/16 "2017-06-12T15:42:35Z")
Mistake, IMO. Expect a bunch of political posturing from all questioners. If I were him I would insist on closed session (if possible) and then repeat my testimony to the public afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/17 "2017-06-12T16:44:52Z")
I’ve been wondering this ever since Comey’s testimony: why not both? Good ol’ boy Jeff could get his public showing and the SIC could gut him in private. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/18 "2017-06-12T16:47:00Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > I’ve been wondering this ever since Comey’s testimony: why not both? Good ol’ boy Jeff could get his public showing and the SIC could gut him in private. I’m confused, too. I would think there would have to be private hearing, too. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/19 "2017-06-12T16:49:04Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Mistake, IMO. He knows his boss will inevitably contradict his testimony so he’s covering his ass by getting that testimony out to the public ASAP. ---
**Author:** ![quimper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7c8e57/32.png) [@quimper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quimper)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/20 "2017-06-12T17:22:39Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [Open it is!](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TRUMP_RUSSIA_PROBE_THE_LATEST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-12-11-22-18) Well, blow me down. I wonder if he’s retained a lawyer? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667.md?page=2)