Attorney General Jeff Sessions is set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for an oversight hearing on Wednesday, where Democrats will ask assurances that special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe on Russian meddling in last year’s election is free of political interference. This will be the attorney general’s first appearance before the Committee since he was confirmed to the post in February, NBC News reports.
Jeff Sessions has already appeared before the panel, in January, and that was the only time. At the time, he said that he had no communications with Russians during Trump’s presidential campaign, but later was revealed that he actually had at least two meetings with a top Russian diplomat.
In June, Sessions appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee and denied the accusations that he contacted with Russians or other foreign officials about interfering in the elections. Still, his contacts with Sergei Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the U.S, were the key to his decision to recuse himself from the investigation. Senator Richard Blumenthal expects that Sessions will cite the recusal as an excuse not to answer most of the questions, but he had prepared questions relating to the integrity of the Department of Justice and protecting against interference.
“The resource question will be important, making sure that there are sufficient resources for the special counsel,” Blumenthal said.
Because of the extended absence of Sessions, the senators have prepared a lot of questions for him. Lawmakers will be scrambling to address a wide range of topics covering Sessions first eight months.
“It’s a long list,” Senator Richard Durbin said.
He added that one of his priorities would be questioning about the department’s involving in Trump’s decision to phase out the DACA program.
“The decision to repeal the DACA program and the short time given to those under the program who are eligible to sign up again is really troubling to me,” he said.
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