Attorney General Jeff Sessions is about to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee, where he will be asked about an alleged third meeting with the Russian ambassador to the United States.
Sessions’ testimony will begin at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time, and it can be viewed live in the embedded YouTube player via ABC News.
Attorney General Sessions was originally going to testify before the Senate Committee on Appropriations this Tuesday. But in light of recent events, Sessions recently announced that he would send Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to the Appropriations Committee on his place and that he would himself testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“In light of reports regarding Mr. Comey’s recent testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, it is important that I have an opportunity to address these matters in the appropriate forum,” Sessions told the Senate Committee on Appropriations this week, according to Reuters.
Sessions went on to say that the Senate Intelligence Committee is the “most appropriate forum for such matters, as it has been conducting an investigation and has access to relevant, classified information.”
It was not initially clear whether this would take place in an open or closed session, but on Monday, a Department of Justice spokesperson said that Sessions had requested the hearing be public.
NEW: DOJ spokesperson says that AG Sessions has “requested” that tomorrow’s Senate Intel hearing be public
This testimony comes on the heels of a bombshell revelation from FBI Director James Comey. During Comey’s testimony last week, he stated that before Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe, the FBI had reason to believe that Sessions being involved in the probe would be problematic; however, Comey said that he couldn’t reveal any more in an open setting.
Hours later, CNN reported that James Comey told Congress in a closed hearing that Sessions may have had a third interaction with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. This alleged third meeting would have taken place at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC in April 2016, when Donald Trump was delivering a foreign policy address. The Department of Justice has denied that this meeting took place.
“The facts haven’t changed; the then-Senator did not have any private or side conversations with any Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel,” Department of Justice spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores told CNN.