Former FBI director James Comey dropped several bombshells during his three-hour Senate hearing Thursday, but the Department of Justice has already refuted one of them.
Department of Justice Issues Statement on Testimony of Former FBI Director James Comey https://t.co/r6yaauNzJz
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) June 8, 2017
During his testimony, Comey stated that the reason Attorney General Jeff Sessions excused himself from the Russian investigation could not be disclosed “in an open setting:”
“We also were aware of facts that I can’t discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a Russia-related investigation problematic,” the former FBI director said.
businessinsider: Comey hints that there are ‘facts’ we don’t yet know about why Jeff Sessions recused himself from… pic.twitter.com/mB8JlD6vrK
— Investing Insight (@InvestingLatest) June 8, 2017
Sounds pretty nefarious. However, in a statement issued Thursday, DOJ spokesman Ian Prior revealed the reason for Sessions’ recusal, and it’s pretty darn simple:
“Given Attorney General Sessions’ participation in President Trump’s campaign, it was for that reason, and that reason alone, the Attorney General made the decision on March 2, 2017 to recuse himself from any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United States,” DOJ spokesman Ian Prior said in a Thursday night statement.
That’s far less crooked than the scenario Comey painted.
Additionally, Comey claimed that he wasn’t aware of “any kind of memorandum issued from the Attorney General or the Department of Justice to the FBI outlining the parameters of [the Attorney General’s] recusal.”
However, the DOJ said that’s not true, either:
[…] Sessions’ chief of staff sent an email on March 2 to Comey and several other officials that said: “After careful consideration following meetings with career Department officials over the course of the past several weeks, the Attorney General has decided to recuse himself from any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United States. ”
The email continued on to say that Sessions shouldn’t be involved or briefed on those matters and that Acting Attorney General Dana Boente will perform the functions of the attorney general in those investigations.
In his defense, Comey is notoriously bad at record-keeping.
Finally, the DOJ also had something to say about Comey’s testimony that Sessions didn’t respond to his request to prevent any “future direct communication between the President and me:”
Prior said in his statement, “The Attorney General was not silent; he responded to this comment by saying that the FBI and Department of Justice needed to be careful about following appropriate policies regarding contacts with the White House.”
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