{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/leahy-statement-on-the-attorney-generals-russia-related-testimony-before-the-senate-", "Leahy Statement On the Attorney Generals Russia-related testimony before the Senate", "2017-11-13", "2017", "2017-11", "Democrat", "House", "VT", "Patrick Leahy", "L000174", "www.leahy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "11.13.17\n\t\t\t Leahy Statement On the Attorney General\u2019s Russia-related testimony before the Senate  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tOver the past 10 months, the Attorney General has testified before the Senate on three occasions about his knowledge of and contacts with Russian operatives.\u00a0 He also answered written questions and provided additional supplemental testimony.\u00a0 But he still has not gotten his story straight.\u00a0 On numerous occasions, new disclosures of his communications involving Russia have raised serious doubts about his testimony.\u00a0 And not one of these disclosures has come from the Attorney General; all have come from the press or unsealed court records.\u00a0 That is a problem.\r\nThis started in January.\u00a0 At his nomination hearing both Senator Franken and I asked him about contacts with Russian officials.\u00a0 I asked him in writing whether he had been in contact with anyone connected to the Russian government about the 2016 election.\u00a0 It was not a tricky or surprising question.\u00a0 Other Trump officials\u2019 undisclosed contacts with Russians, like those of Michael Flynn or Jared Kushner, were major headlines at the time.\u00a0 Under oath, then-Senator Sessions answered with a single word, \u201cno.\u201d\u00a0 We soon learned that the answer was \u201cyes\u201d\u2014just the opposite.\r\nIn March, the Washington Post reported that Sessions met with Russian Ambassador Kislyak on two occasions during the height of the 2016 campaign.\u00a0 Days later, the Attorney General was forced to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.\u00a0 In June, the press reported on a third undisclosed contact.\u00a0 In July, despite the Attorney General\u2019s previous assertions that he never discussed the campaign with Russian officials, U.S. intelligence intercepts reportedly revealed that he had done just that\u2014discussing the campaign and its positions on Russia-related issues with the Russian ambassador.\u00a0 When I asked the Attorney General about this report in the Judiciary Committee last month, his testimony shifted yet again; he acknowledged that it was \u201cpossible\u201d he had those conversations.\u00a0 That flatly contradicts his testimony to me in January. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\nAnd the disclosures show no sign of stopping.\u00a0 Two weeks ago, unsealed court records revealed additional Russian connections that were discussed during a Trump campaign meeting in March 2016.\u00a0 Then-Senator Sessions reportedly admonished those in attendance to not discuss the issue again out of fear it would leak to the press.\u00a0 And just last week another foreign policy campaign aide testified that he informed Sessions of his planned trip to Russia in July 2016.\u00a0 Once again, the descriptions of these communications are impossible to reconcile with the Attorney General\u2019s testimony, in which he claimed under oath that he was not aware of any contact between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.\r\nThe notion that the Attorney General is just forgetful is simply not believable.\u00a0 Potential Russian involvement in our elections was a major story at the time.\u00a0 In July 2016, then-candidate Trump encouraged Russia to commit espionage against his political opponent, Hillary Clinton, by stealing her emails.\u00a0 That same week then-Senator Sessions told CNN that \u201cpeople come up to [him] all the time\u201d to talk about Russia hacking Hillary Clinton\u2019s emails.\u00a0Exactly who were all these people talking to him about Russia hacking Hillary Clinton\u2019s emails?\u00a0 And should he have disclosed any of these conversations to the Judiciary Committee?\u00a0 We do not yet know.\u00a0 Senator Durbin recently asked him this in a written question, and we look forward to his response.\r\nI want another point to be clear:\u00a0 I have never accused the Attorney General of colluding with Russia, and I am not doing so now.\u00a0 But it is clear that the Kremlin tested the waters with then-Senator Sessions, as it did with so many other Trump campaign officials.\u00a0 It is equally clear that the Attorney General concealed his own contacts with Russian officials, and he has failed to correct the record even when given multiple opportunities to do so.\u00a0 I agree with Senators Graham, Franken, and others that he needs to come back once again to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.\u00a0 It is time we hear the whole story.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\nAn important part of that story is what the Attorney General did on May 9th, the day President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.\u00a0 To justify the dismissal, the president cited a Justice Department memorandum signed off by Attorney General Sessions.\u00a0 The memo attempted to justify firing Director Comey because he treated Hillary Clinton unfairly during the email investigation.\u00a0 We later learned there was an earlier, unsent letter that pointed to President Trump\u2019s true motivation for firing Director Comey: the Russia investigation.\u00a0 The day before the dismissal the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General were reportedly called into the White House to discuss the earlier letter.\u00a0 The next day, May 9th, they delivered their own hastily drafted memo that provided the alternative justification for firing Director Comey.\r\nHere\u2019s the problem: The May 9th memo was a fa\u00e7ade.\u00a0 It was a pretext.\u00a0 The White House needed to point to anything other than Russia to justify dismissing Director Comey, and the Attorney General obliged.\u00a0 But the president could not keep the secret.\u00a0 The very next morning, he boasted to Russian officials visiting the Oval Office that firing Director Comey took great pressure off of him from the Russia investigation.\u00a0 Two days later, on national television, the president made clear what we all knew:\u00a0 He fired the lead Russia investigator due to concerns over how he was handling the Russia investigation.\u00a0\r\nHere is another problem:\u00a0 Firing an investigator in order to stymie a legitimate investigation is a crime\u2014it is called obstruction of justice.\u00a0 Whether there is sufficient evidence to merit a charge of obstruction against the president will likely be revealed by Special Counsel Mueller.\u00a0 If so, the Attorney General may have to admit the May 9th memo that he approved was nothing but a smokescreen\u2014an attempt to mask an uncomfortable truth and excuse the inexcusable.\u00a0 Prosecutors do not look kindly upon those who aid others in covering up crimes.\r\nFor many years I sat with Senator Sessions on the Judiciary Committee.\u00a0 We disagreed on many policy issues, but I never questioned his commitment to the rule of law.\u00a0I do question this president\u2019s commitment to the rule of law.\u00a0 This month alone President Trump repeatedly directed the Justice Department to target his political opponents and chase his conspiracy theories.\u00a0 This is a president who needs to be told \u201cno.\u201d\u00a0 May 9th was one of those moments.\u00a0 I am greatly disappointed that Attorney General Sessions was not up to the task.\u00a0 This is a solemn obligation that goes to the heart of what it means to be Attorney General\u2014ensuring that no person, not even a president, is above the law.\u00a0 He is not a Secretary of Justice, serving the president blindly and covering his flaws.\u00a0 He is the Attorney General of the United States, serving the American people.\u00a0 I fear Attorney General Sessions has lost sight of this distinction.\r\nWe are in the midst of perhaps the most serious national security investigation of our time. A foreign adversary attacked our democracy and our elections.\u00a0 We know that Russia will be back.\u00a0\u00a0If we are serious about preventing the next attack, we must know what happened during the last.\u00a0 The American people deserve answers.\u00a0 No more obfuscation.\u00a0 No more falsehoods.\u00a0 This starts with the Attorney General returning to the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain, in person, under oath, why he has not provided truthful, complete answers to some of the most pressing questions facing our nation today.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t Press Contact \n\t\t\t\tDavid Carle: 202-224-3693", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/leahy-statement-on-the-attorney-generals-russia-related-testimony-before-the-senate-"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7753469981253147, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}