On Thursday evening former FBI director who was fired by Trump, James Comey, gave his testimony regarding the reasons why he was fired by the President. Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General who was mentioned during the hearing, is scheduled to testify and dispute certain specific aspects of Comey’s testimony.
Sessions denies the fact that he did not do anything about the improper interventions by Pres. Donald Trump from the complaint of Comey. “During his testimony, Comey gave his confirmation regarding how he didn’t inform Sessions on his concerns about his private conversation with the President,” said Ian Prior, Justice Department spokesman, in a statement.
Comey’s testimony signifies that Sessions, along with other government officials, vacated a meeting at the Oval Office they had in order for the President to talk to him privately. The former FBI director said that he told Sessions later on that he shouldn’t have left Pres. Trump alone to talk to him as it was sure to be regarding the Russia investigation.
Wednesday last week, a written testimony was released. It stated there that Comey talked to Sessions and that he should not let the circumstance happen again as it was inappropriate. In Comey’s statement, Sessions did not reply.
During the hearing, Comey said he could not remember what Sessions did after that. “I do not remember what he did after I said the meeting was inappropriate. However, what I remember is that he looked at me. Since it was danger which I was projecting to him, my memory could be faulty. From Sessions’ body language, it seemed like he was asking for help as he didn’t know what to do.“
Jonathan Swan of Axios, a news website, said that Sessions will claim that he did not remain silent during the conversation he had with Comey. Sessions will do so under oath as he will appear before the US Senate Intelligence Committee.
In Comey’s sworn testimony, he said that he got the impression that Pres. Trump was trying very hard to pressure him into dropping the investigation of the FBI over Michael Flynn, Trump’s former NSA.
“It can be expected that Sessions will counter this claim of Comey. According to Sessions, he responded to the former director of the FBI by telling him that the DOJ and the FBI should be aware of the official protocol on White House communications,” said Swan.
Sessions is not the first figure that will go after Comey. After Comey’s hearing, the President accused him of lying. Pres. Trump even said that he will answer questions in front of the Committee under oath regarding the same situation.
Below is a portion of the statement that the Justice Department released after the testimony of Comey:
“During his testimony, James Comey confirmed that he didn’t inform Jeff Sessions regarding the substance of his conversation with the President. The Atty. Gen. was not silent as well as he said to Comey that the DOJ and the FBI need to be careful regarding White House contacts.”
