US attorney general to testify in ongoing Russia probe

WASHINGTON — US Attorney General Jeff Sessions is preparing to face former Senate colleagues over his role in the controversy around ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, part of an escalating investigation into possible Russian meddling in the 2016 elections.

Sessions is scheduled to testify Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee and is due for sharp questioning. It is not yet known whether the hearing will be public or closed.

“I urge that the committee hold a hearing with the attorney general in the open,” Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon and a member of the committee, says Sunday.

Fellow Republicans, meanwhile, press US President Donald Trump to come clean about whether he has tapes of private conversations with fired FBI director James Comey and provide them to Congress if he does — or possibly face a subpoena. It is the latest fallout from riveting testimony from Comey last week of undue pressure from Trump, which drew an angry response from the president on Friday that Comey was lying.

“I don’t understand why the president just doesn’t clear this matter up once and for all,” says Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican of Maine and a member of the intelligence committee, referring to the existence of any recordings.

She describes Comey’s testimony as “candid” and “thorough” and says she would support a subpoena of any tapes if needed.

Sen. James Lankford, a Republican of Oklahoma, also a member of that committee, agrees the panel needs to hear any tapes, if they exist. “We’ve obviously pressed the White House,” he says.

Trump’s aides have dodged questions about whether conversations relevant to the Russia investigation have been recorded, and so has the president. Pressed on the issue Friday, Trump said “I’ll tell you about that maybe sometime in the very near future.”

— AP