Attorney General Jeff Sessions' testimony and refusal to answer questions posed to him by the members of the Senate Intelligence Committee was "deeply troubling," Sen. Chris Coons said Wednesday morning.
"It was deeply troubling to see someone as aggressive in his patriotism as a senator bobbing and weaving as attorney general," the Delaware Democrat told MSNBC's "Morning Joe," after being asked if he thought Sessions' actions could lead to a contempt citation.
"[He was] clearly from the record disinterested in the details of Russia's attack on our democracy in our last election."
During his testimony, the former Alabama senator was often defiant, telling the committee allegations that he'd colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election was an "appalling and detestable lie" and that he'd never recused himself "from defending my honor against scurrilous and false accusations."
He also refused to answer several Democrats' questions concerning his conversations with President Donald Trump, leading them to accuse him of stonewalling.
Coons on Wednesday said he believes both Sessions and fired FBI Director James Comey should appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee, to which he belongs, as it has jurisdiction over the Department of Justice.
"We have not had the attorney general in front of us, and have not had the opportunity to question Attorney General Sessions either about the ongoing operations of the Department of Justice under his leadership, which is supposed to appear before us every year, or about this specific issue relating to the firing of Jim Comey," said Coons.
He also said he believed Comey's testimony last week before the Intelligence Committee to be "very clear" and Comey himself to be a "very credible witness," when it came to questions about Comey's statement that he'd asked Sessions not to leave him alone with Trump.
Comey said Sessions did not respond, but Sessions testified that he did respond to the request.
"Frankly, I found the FBI director to be a very credible witness," Coons said. "There are a number of ways how the testimony corroborated core aspects of the FBI's story. There were a few differences as you referenced.
"That's why I'm encouraged we have Bob Mueller as special counsel continuing to investigate the possibility of obstruction by the president and senior members of his team," Coons added.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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