Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said Wednesday the role Jeff Sessions played in the firing of FBI Director James Comey has raised serious questions about the attorney general’s “fitness for office.”
A Democratic member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. Wyden told reporters on Capitol Hill that Mr. Sessions appears to have trampled over his promise to stay out of the investigation of possible Russian ties to President Trump’s presidential campaign by recommending Mr. Comey’s dismissal.
“He made it very clear in his recusal letter that he would not be involved in matters related to Russia, and clearly if you see his role yesterday and apparently over the last 36 hours, what he did was a blatant disregard for the statement that he made with respect to his recusal,” Mr. Wyden said. “There are serious questions in my view about his fitness for office on the basis for what I consider to be a blatant disregard for the commitments he made in his recusal announcement.”
The White House, meanwhile, maintained that Mr. Comey’s firing had nothing to do with the Russia investigation.
“The president took the advice of the deputy attorney general who oversees FBI,” Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, said on CNN. “[Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein] brought those concerns to the attorney general who brought them to the president who made the decision to remove [Mr. Comey].”
In March, Mr. Sessions recused himself from a Justice Department investigation of Moscow’s meddling in the presidential election after he came under fire for not disclosing contacts with the Russian ambassador.
“I have now decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matter relating in any way to the campaigns for president,” Mr. Sessions said at a press conference at the time.
• Sally Persons contributed to this report.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.