Peeking over the edge of the Senate podium today will be Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. On Monday, the Senate decided to have Tuesday’s hearing coram publico so rather than speaking behind closed doors, Sessions will be sitting down to give his name, half truths, no truths, and non answers in front of the cameras.
Following James Comey’s testimony a week ago, Sessions’ hearing is likely to play as the less dramatic, more pedantic, and outright frustrating sequel.
Sessions can expect to be questioned about his interactions with Russian Ambassador Kislyak at the Mayflower Hotel. To date, the event has been put off as one in which a number of people were present for Trump’s first major foreign policy speech, including Kislyak. But there was apparently a smaller, more intimate gathering before the speech that included Kislyak at Sessions slipping back stage. Did they speak directly? Sessions has been extremely dismissive of his previous meetings with Kislyak, with Sessions claiming that his meetings were all in his role as a senator.
But in last week’s testimony, Comey didn’t just hint that there was another little shoe to drop with Sessions connections to Russia, he waved that stinky loafer around so that no one could miss it.
COMEY: Our judgment, as I recall, was that he was very close to and inevitably going to recuse himself for a variety of reasons. We also were aware of facts that I can’t discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a Russia-related investigation problematic.
Not exactly subtle. Later in the Comey hearing, Democratic Senator Kamala Harris took up the Sessions theme, asking a rapid fire series of questions that Comey was mostly unwilling to field in public, which seemed to be setting up further actions for a future date … like this one.
This is Kamala Harris, relentlessly pointing one particular subject.
HARRIS: As a former attorney general, I have a series of questions about your connection with the attorney general during the course of your tenure as director.
What is your understanding of the parameters of General Sessions’ recusal from the Russia — Russia investigation? ...
HARRIS: Is — so is your knowledge of the extent of his recusal based on the public statements he’s made? ...
HARRIS: ... OK. So was there any kind of memorandum issued from the attorney general or the Department of Justice to the FBI, outlining the parameters of his recusal?
HARRIS: And do you know if he reviewed any FBI or DOJ documents pertaining to the investigation before he was recused? ...
HARRIS: And after he was recused, I’m assuming it’s the same answer. ...
HARRIS: And as — aside from any notice or memorandum that was not sent or was, what mechanism or processes were in place to ensure that the attorney general would not have any connection with the investigation, to your knowledge? ...
HARRIS: And the attorney general recused himself from the investigation, but do you believe it was appropriate for him to be involved in the firing of the chief investigator of that case — of that Russia interference? ...
HARRIS: And did you speak to the attorney general about the Russia investigation before his recusal? ...
HARRIS: Do you know if anyone in the department, in the FBI, forwarded any documents or information or memos of any sort to the attention of the attorney general before his recusal? …
HARRIS: Do you know if the attorney general was involved — in fact, involved in any aspect of the Russia investigation after his recusal on the 2nd of March? …
HARRIS: In your written testimony, you indicate that you — when you — after you were left alone with the president, you mentioned that it was inappropriate and should never happen again to the attorney general. And, apparently, he did not reply, and you write that he did not reply. What did he do, if anything? Did he just look at you? Was there a pause for a moment? What happened? …
HARRIS: Did he shrug? …
What was Harris after? Comey may have refused to answer most of these questions in an open hearing, or responded with a simple “I don’t know,” but in his previous appearances before the Senate, Sessions was a lot more willing to deny that he had any Russian connections at all. In fact, he opened his mouth to volunteer a definitive denial.
Unprompted, Sessions then went further, saying, “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I didn't have—did not have communications with the Russians, and I'm unable to comment on it.”
Those denials turned out to be blatant, clear, definitive lies for which Sessions’ apologia has mostly consisted of a more elaborate version of ‘I meet a lot of people.’
While the Senators on the Judiciary and Appropriations committees, who were the direct recipient of those lies, are mad that Sessions skipped out on making a public return to their purview for a follow-up, several of them can be expected to put in an appearance today. Even if they don’t, there’s little doubt that Sessions will be pounded on why he really had at least three meetings with Russian officials. Because his excuse that everything he did was ‘in his role as a Senator’ is wearing very thin.
An examination of Sessions’s activities in 2016 calls this defense of his testimony into question. It shows a significant spike in the frequency of his contacts with foreign officials after he joined the Trump campaign as a foreign-policy adviser in March. That was when the longtime member of the Armed Services Committee embarked on an intensive program of meetings and dinners with ambassadors and members of Washington’s foreign-policy establishment. His meeting with Kislyak took place during those months. And some of those who met with Sessions said they sought him out not because he was a senator, but precisely because of his role as a Trump campaign surrogate, tasked with advising the campaign on matters of national security.
What can you expect from today’s hearing?
- Expect Sessions to be asked if he had additional meetings with Kislyak or any other Russian official.
- Expect a review of his earlier meetings, especially a lengthy meeting that was held in Sessions office.
- Expect Sessions to be pressed about his response when Comey came to him to warn that Trump was inappropriately reaching out to the FBI director.
- Expect Senators to poke at the reasons that Sessions recused himself. To now, Sessions has maintained it was simply because he was part of the Trump campaign, but that doesn’t align with Comey’s big, dangling hey-look-at-this statement.
What not to expect
- Any details of Sessions’ talks with Trump. Instead, expect that Sessions will experiment with some form of privilege. It’s the thing Trump officials do these days.