Vermont Business Magazine Late Saturday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions backed out of testifying in front of the Senate Appropriations Committeescheduled for Tuesday. This was to have followed up on former FBI director James Comey's testimony last week. US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) was irate that Sessions backed out of his appearance. On Monday, Leahy and Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) sent a letter to committee leaders urging them to essentially compel Sessions to testify.
"This is thesecond timein only two months in which Sessions has cancelled a scheduled hearing where my colleagues and I would have had the opportunity to ask him about the false testimony he provided during his confirmation hearings, as well as his half-hearted recusal from the investigation into Trump's ties to Russia.
"The American people deserve answers.Both the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Judiciary Committee have oversight over the Department of Justice, and Sessions needs to testify publicly in front of both committees."
Directly after the Comey hearing, Leahy said on Friday: "For months, I have sought to clarify Attorney General Sessions' contacts with Russian officials after he provided false testimony to me and my colleague Senator Franken during his confirmation hearings this winter -- and I remain concerned about the Attorney General's role in firing Director Comey in light of his recusal from the Russia investigation.
"Former Director Comey also testified yesterday that he expected Sessions to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, weeks before the Attorney General made that decision himself, because of matters that could not be discussed publicly. This raises even more doubts about the Attorney General's actions."
Leahy (D-Vt.),Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman, and Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) on Monday released a letter to Senator Cochran, Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and Senator Shelby, Chairman of the Subcommittee of Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, asking that the hearing on the FY2018 budget request for the Department of Justice be postponed until Attorney General Sessions is available to attend as a witness.
Leahy and Shaheen wrote: “This raises the question of whether the Attorney General is attempting to avoid oversight of this committee, and it certainly does not obviate his responsibility to answer questions of this committee. We must not enable the Attorney General to avoid public scrutiny by our committee out of concern that such testimony would be embarrassing. That is exactly why our committee’s oversight function and traditions are so important.”
Sessions’ cancellation is highly unusual and breaks from a long, bipartisan history of cooperation with the committee’s role in overseeing government agencies. The Appropriations Committee serves a crucial role in conducting oversight of all of the agencies under its jurisdiction, and that includes direct questioning of each agency head in an open forum. As the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, the Attorney General is the appropriate person to testify on the work of the Department of Justice, not his deputy.
You can read the full letter HERE.
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Source: Leahy 6.12.2017