Former FBI Director James Comey hinted in a closed-door meeting with senators on Thursday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions may have engaged in a third undisclosed meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, according to multiple reports.
Comey’s information was based on intelligence between Russian officials, though the mention of the meeting has not been confirmed and could have been exaggerated by Kislyak.
The suspected meeting is believed to have taken place at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., on April 27, where President Trump gave his first foreign policy speech. A report late last month said congressional investigators were looking into a third previously undisclosed meeting between Sessions and Kislyak. The Justice Department denies such a meeting took place.
Comey alluded in his public hearing before the Senate committee that Sessions’ communications with Kislyak had been more extensive than the public believes it to be.
Sessions, formerly a senator from Alabama, was a top adviser to Trump during his campaign and was hired to nominated and later confirmed to serve as the top U.S. attorney following the election.
In February, Sessions recused himself from a federal investigation into Russian involvement in the presidential election after reports he met on two occasions during the election and transition period with Kislyak and did not report it in his government disclosure forms.
In a statement Thursday, the Justice Department said Sessions recused himself solely because he was an adviser to Trump’s campaign.
In closed hearing with Comey, senators learned of undisclosed 3rd meeting between Sessions and Russians, per @HallieJackson @LACaldwellDC pic.twitter.com/rQYa8LK1y0
— Dafna Linzer (@DafnaLinzer) June 8, 2017
