Sessions: I can’t discuss conversations with the president. 9 legal experts: Yes, you can
During his public testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions refused to answer any questions about conversations he might have had with President Donald Trump.
“It would be inappropriate for me to answer and reveal private conversations with the president when he has not had a full opportunity to review the questions and to make a decision on whether or not to approve such an answer,” Sessions told Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich during a contentious exchange.
Heinrich’s response was forceful: “My understanding is that you took an oath, you raised your right hand here today, and you said that you would solemnly tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and now you're not answering questions.”
But Sessions was adamant that he was obeying long-established DOJ guidelines, and that he was obligated to remain silent.
Later, Sen. Kamala Harris pushed back against Sessions’s argument, asking if this DOJ rule was in writing somewhere. “I think so,” Sessions said.
To find out whether Sessions has a legal justification for his silence, I reached out to 10 legal experts. I asked them if Sessions’s claim that he’s protecting the president's constitutional right to executive privilege makes any sense.
All but one of the experts rejected Sessions’s argument on its face, insisting that Sessions is legally permitted to discuss conversations with the president, provided the president hasn’t yet invoked executive privilege (which he hasn’t). One expert believes there is a precedent for Sessions’s actions, but that Congress can — and should — compel him to answer their questions.
report by Sean Illing
First off, Kamala was obnoxious.
Second, at what position is it no longer in the nation's security to have to ask your higher ups about what you can and cannot say publicly?
If I talked to the president, I could probably post about it. If a local cop did, he probably could too. But... you expect access to the conversations between the AG and the President, let alone the FBI Director and The President or...
An entire litany of people who shouldn't be publicly disclosing the inner workings and operations of the government?
Have you ever been over Robert's Rules of Order? I think Uncle Jeff's that kind of guy... the one who takes "inappropriate" seriously.