During his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions stated his recusal from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, “does not, and cannot interfere with my ability to oversee the Department of Justice, including the FBI,” and that “I did not recuse myself from defending my honor against scurrilous and false allegations.”
Sessions said, “[T]he scope of my recusal, however, does not, and cannot interfere with my ability to oversee the Department of Justice, including the FBI, which has an $8 billion budget and 35,000 employees. I presented to the president my concerns and those of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about the ongoing leadership issues at the FBI, as stated in my letter recommending the removal of Mr. Comey, along with the deputy attorney general’s memorandum on that issue, which have been released publicly by the White House. Those represent a clear statement of my views. I adopted the Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein’s points that he made in his memorandum and made my recommendation. It is absurd, frankly, to suggest that a recusal from a single specific investigation would render the attorney general unable to manage the leadership of the various Department of Justice law enforcement components that conduct thousands of investigations.”
Sessions added, “Finally, during his testimony, Mr. Comey discussed a conversation that he and I had about the meeting Mr. Comey had with the president. I’m happy to share with the committee my recollection of that conversation that I had with Mr. Comey. Following a routine morning threat briefing, Mr. Comey spoke to me and my chief of staff. While he did not provide me with any of the substance of his conversation with the president, apparently the day before, Mr. Comey expressed concern about proper communications protocol with the White House and with the president. I responded, he didn’t recall this, but I responded to his comment by agreeing that the FBI and the Department of Justice needed to be careful to follow department policies regarding appropriate contacts with the White House. Mr. Comey had served in the department for better than two decades, and I was confident that he understood and would abide by the well-established rules limiting communications with the White House, especially about ongoing investigations. That’s what’s so important to control. My comments encouraged him to do just that, and indeed, as I understand it, he, in fact, did that. Our Department of Justice rules on proper communications between the department and the White House have been in place for years. Mr. Comey well knew them. I thought and assumed correctly that he complied with them.”
He concluded, “I recuse myself from any investigation into the campaign for president, but I did not recuse myself from defending my honor against scurrilous and false allegations.”
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