The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee is putting public pressure on her Republican counterpart to invite Attorney General Jeff Sessions to testify before lawmakers to answer questions about his interactions with the Russian ambassador.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Monday asked committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley to invite Mr. Sessions before the committee to address discrepancies between his accounts of meetings with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, in which he has said he did not discuss the Trump campaign, and reports that indicate Mr. Kislyak told his superiors in Moscow that the two had discussed campaign matters.
Mr. Sessions, who served as a Trump campaign surrogate, said he had two meetings with the Russian ambassador during the course of the campaign. He described both meetings as taking place in his capacity as a U.S. senator.
The Washington Post reported Friday on U.S. spy agency intercepts of conversations between Mr. Kislyak and his superiors in Moscow in which he said he discussed campaign-related matters with Mr. Sessions.
“If this is true, it would be directly contrary to the testimony that Attorney General Sessions gave — under oath — before the Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearings,” Mrs. Feinstein wrote in a letter to Mr. Grassley. “It would be a grave breach of trust if the Attorney General gave false or misleading testimony to this Committee.”
Mr. Grassley wrote Saturday on Twitter that whoever leaked the information to the newspaper should end speculation over the conversation by releasing more information.
“If the leaker thinks there’s a problem leak the FULL text immediately so it can be investigated,” Mr. Grassley wrote.
Mrs. Feinstein said it was the Judiciary Committee’s job to conduct oversight of the Justice Department and noted that it had been six months since Mr. Sessions was confirmed as attorney general and that he had not once been invited to testify before the committee. She asked Mr. Grassley to consider scheduling a hearing for Mr. Session in August or September.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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