The Senate judiciary committee’s top Democrat, Dianne Feinstein, has asked Chairman Chuck Grassley to call Attorney General Jeff Sessions to appear before the committee, following reports of the Russian ambassador claiming they discussed the presidential campaign and issues important to the Kremlin.
“The Judiciary committee has the primary jurisdiction and responsibility for conducting oversight jurisdiction of the Justice Department,” Feinstein said in a statement released Monday. “I know you agree that a critical element of such oversight is our ability to ask questions directly of the attorney general. However, nearly six months have passed since attorney general Sessions was confirmed, and despite repeated requests from me and other members, he has still not been invited to testify before the committee of primary jurisdiction.”
The Washington Post reported over the weekend that Sessions met with the Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak to discuss Trump campaign matters during the 2016 presidential election, according to US intelligence intercepts.
According to the Post, Kislyak told his superiors in Moscow about two conversations he had with Sessions, which included a discussion on policy issues important to the Kremlin. Sessions was a foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump and major campaign supporter at the time. According to the Post, Kislyak told his superiors in Moscow about two conversations he had with Sessions, which he said included a discussion on policy issues important to the Kremlin.
Trump also tweeted about Sessions on Monday.
“So why aren’t the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?” he tweeted.
