Sessions: Suggestions of collusion ‘an appalling and detestable lie’

Sessions agreed to testify in the public hearing to answer after former FBI director James Comey mentioned Sessions several times in his testimony to the committee last week and to refuted suggestions that he may have intentionally failed to disclose in his confirmation hearing for attorney general contacts with Russian officials, particularly a meeting with Russian ambassador Sergie Kislyak at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington during the campaign.

The attorney general, who was the first senator to endorse Trump and served as a top surrogate on his campaign, has recused himself from a Department of Justice probe into possible collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign in an effort to help Trump win the presidency.

In a potential major expansion of the Russia probes, California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, the former chair and ranking member of the Intelligence Committee who is also the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, urged that committee to undertake a separate investigation of potential obstruction of justice in the Russia by administration officials.

Feinstein wrote chair Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, last week to say her dual role has shown her “firsthand the distinction between the legal and counterintelligence aspects” of the Senate’s Russia probe, saying any obstruction of justice issues fall squarely within the purview of Judiciary.

Feinstein called for issuing subpoenas to administration officials who fail to cooperate, noting the the failure by Dan Coats, of Director of National Intelligence and National Security Agency director Mike Rogers to answer questions about any discussions of the Russia probe with Trump.

The Sessions testimony comes amid attacks by Trump surrogates on the integrity of special counsel Robert Mueller, a Republican career prosecutor universally hailed when he was appointed last month to lead the FBI investigation into Russia's potential ties to the 2016 election.

Over the weekend, talk show host Ann Colter urged Sessions to fire Mueller, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich accused Mueller on Fox News Sunday of conducting a partisan probe, echoing Trump’s characterization of the investigation as a “witch hunt.”