ATTORNEY GENERAL/DEMS/JAMES COMEY/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE/JEFF SESSIONS: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions infuriated Democratic senators Tuesday [6-13-17] by repeatedly thwarting their efforts to shed light on the firing of James Comey, as he blasted secret innuendo and leaks over his own conduct.
In a fiery Senate intelligence committee hearing, Sessions raised his voice in indignation as he rejected claims that he had colluded with Russian officials during the 2016 election as an ‘appalling and detestable lie.’ He repeatedly declined to go into his private conversations with President Donald Trump — frustrating Democrats who accused him of ‘stonewalling’ to shield the administration.
Using all the skills in filibustering and diversion that he learned in years as an Alabama senator, the Attorney General appeared to escape the hearing without major political damage. He also provided resistance that may offer a boost to a crisis-weary White House that has been unable to shrug off the dark cloud over the Russia investigation.
Sessions beseeched his former Senate colleagues to believe him when he said he did not hold an undisclosed meeting with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak at a speech by then-candidate Trump at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington last year. He said he could not recall if he had an informal interactions with Russians at the event.”
-Stephen Collinson, “Jeff Sessions: Russia collusion claim ‘detestable lie’,” CNN Polictics, CNN.com, June 13, 2017 06:24pm