Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats today called for Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., the nominee for attorney general, to allow investigations into Russian hacking to proceed and to recuse himself from any of those proceedings.
The Democrats, led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who chairs the Judiciary panel, asks Sessions not to “impede or shut down” any FBI or Justice Department investigation into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election and asks for a commitment on it.
In the letter, sent to Sessions Tuesday, Democrats cite the controversial CNN report that President Obama and President-elect Trump were briefed recently by the intelligence community about unconfirmed allegations that Russia may have “compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump.”
The Democrats go on to cite “unconfirmed allegations” in the CNN report that “a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government.”
The Democrats noted that Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., asked Sessions to comment on the breaking news about the CNN report’s allegations during his confirmation hearings last week but that Sessions responded only that he had “no information about this matter” and was “just not able to give you any comment on it at this time.”
“We understand that you may have been unaware of this news report at the time, which is why we would like to give you another opportunity to respond,” they wrote.
They also argued that Russian interference in America’s democratic processes is “a matter of grave national importance” and reminded Sessions that some Senate Democrats have called for an independent commission or a select committee of Congress to investigate.
“But at a minimum, these allegations must be fully investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department, especially in light of the recent assessment by the intelligence community that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered a campaign to influence the outcome of our presidential election in Donald Trump’s favor,” they wrote.
All the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee signed the letter, including Feinstein, and Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Al Franken, D-Minn., Chris Coons, D-Del., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii.
