Get your popcorn: Jeff Sessions has been pummeled into testifying in public tomorrow
Attorney General Jeff Sessions spent the weekend twisting himself into contortions in an attempt at avoiding having to testify in public about his role in the Trump-Russia scandal. He decided to send a deputy to an already scheduled public hearing. He volunteered to testify separately, but begged for it to be private by claiming it was somehow classified. But even after having twisted himself into a pretzel, it turns out Sessions will still have to testify in public – and it’s happening tomorrow.
For lack of a better word, it appears Jeff Sessions was simply pummeled into it. Numerous Democrats in Congress publicly insisted that his testimony be in public, and the American people took to social media to demand the same. And so Sessions, who has already shown that he’s willing to do whatever he thinks is best for himself, even if it’s at the expense of his boss Donald Trump, will yield to the teeming hordes and testify before the cameras.
There are, however, a couple of caveats. One is that some of the Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee will use their allotted time to try to muddy the waters for Sessions’ benefit. The other is that White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said from the podium today that Sessions may invoke executive privilege in order to avoid answering some of the most incriminating questions about how he collaborated with Trump to fire James Comey.
But even with those caveats, Jeff Sessions’ public testimony tomorrow will be must see television. In the eyes of an increasingly skeptical public, invoking executive privilege is just as suspicious as pleading the fifth. So whatever Sessions says and does tomorrow, it’ll only serve to further undermine Trump’s credibility. The Senate Intel website says the hearings will begin at 2:30pm eastern time. We expect they’ll air live on all major cable news networks.
