:00:00. > :00:00.that. Also his contacts with Russian officials. Earlier today, I spoke to
:00:00. > :00:00.a Democratic congressmen, a member of the house intelligence committee,
:00:00. > :00:08.I asked him what he hopes to hear from Mr Sessions.
:00:09. > :00:12.What do you want to hear from Jeff Sessions when he testifies in the
:00:13. > :00:15.Senate? I think we're going to have a chance
:00:16. > :00:18.to hear from Jeff Sessions. Most importantly about whether or not the
:00:19. > :00:24.reserve third meeting with the Russian ambassador in Washington,
:00:25. > :00:28.that is going to be very important. Also, get an update about his
:00:29. > :00:34.working relationship with the White House. There had been some
:00:35. > :00:38.discussion about the possibility that he offered his resignation,
:00:39. > :00:42.which is very troubling. We don't understand why that would be,
:00:43. > :00:46.whether it was just friction between he and the president, or some more
:00:47. > :00:52.substantive issue that committee should know about. So there should
:00:53. > :00:55.be very important issues today. You sit on the house intelligence
:00:56. > :00:59.committee, and you have just been given extra funding for the Russian
:01:00. > :01:01.investigation. What I do looking at? You're looking at the idea of
:01:02. > :01:05.whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians,
:01:06. > :01:11.or obstruction of justice, or are you looking at the possibility of
:01:12. > :01:13.perjury? Certainly, the special Council is
:01:14. > :01:19.the one we will be most concerned with any crimes that were committed,
:01:20. > :01:22.obstruction of justice, perjury. For the intelligence committee, we want
:01:23. > :01:26.to make sure of two things. Number one, that we take all measures to
:01:27. > :01:29.prevent any kind of foreign interference with American elections
:01:30. > :01:35.in the future, whether it is 2018 or the next essential election. And we
:01:36. > :01:39.have to do that to dissuade not only the Russians but any other foreign
:01:40. > :01:43.government or non-state actor who has the cyber capabilities to mess
:01:44. > :01:48.with America's elections will stop we need to dissuade them from doing
:01:49. > :01:52.that. Every American is owed the answer to this question, whether
:01:53. > :01:56.part of what happened was an inside job, whether any American or
:01:57. > :02:01.Americans, spires are coordinated or colluded with the Russians who
:02:02. > :02:05.interfered with our 2016 elections. The committee will try to get to the
:02:06. > :02:09.bottom of that. I am sure you have heard this from
:02:10. > :02:12.Republican voters in your district, there is some sense that the
:02:13. > :02:15.Democrats are out to make the Trump residency fail whatever it takes.
:02:16. > :02:19.Listening to what you want to hear from Jeff Sessions, he had another
:02:20. > :02:21.meeting, maybe with a Russian ambassador at the Mayflower hotel.
:02:22. > :02:26.It doesn't sounds terribly nefarious. You can understand why
:02:27. > :02:30.there are Trump supporters who are very critical of Democrats of the
:02:31. > :02:34.moment, who think they are pushing this all Russian investigation too
:02:35. > :02:38.far. I have heard that sentiment out
:02:39. > :02:42.there, and I think the president has a core group of supporters, about
:02:43. > :02:45.35% of the country, that have stuck by him through thick and thin and
:02:46. > :02:51.will continue to do so. But these are very legitimate questions. They
:02:52. > :02:53.need to be answered, regarding the Russian investigation, and whether
:02:54. > :02:58.any Trump associates, spires with the Russians to fiddle with our
:02:59. > :03:03.elections. Do you think Jeff Sessions colluded
:03:04. > :03:06.with the Russians? The question is whether Jeff
:03:07. > :03:11.Sessions was fully cooperative and honest with the Senate during the
:03:12. > :03:14.confirmation process, and that is why the issue of this meeting with
:03:15. > :03:30.the Russian ambassador is going to be discussed. Letters now get the
:03:31. > :03:35.reaction from a Republican. You have been a long supporter of President
:03:36. > :03:39.Trump, but the problem for him at the moment is this Russian
:03:40. > :03:42.investigation, the Jeff Sessions healing, this is not a for the
:03:43. > :03:49.administration, and they are not making it better for themselves, are
:03:50. > :03:53.they? Set part of the reason why the James Comey testimony was so
:03:54. > :03:58.significant, I just want to go back to Congressmen Joaquin Castro, the
:03:59. > :04:02.question that should have been asked, the biggest thing that the
:04:03. > :04:08.Democrats had going for them, this theory, this operating notion that
:04:09. > :04:13.the presidents colluded with the Russians was completely shattered.
:04:14. > :04:17.It was disproven under oath by the FBI director. Of course the clouds
:04:18. > :04:22.of these investigations will hang over the administration, but as long
:04:23. > :04:28.as people like Jeff Sessions testify under oath, but the problem that the
:04:29. > :04:33.Democrats face is that the narrative of obstruction of justice have been
:04:34. > :04:38.shattered. But the other side of this investigation is whether there
:04:39. > :04:41.was obstruction of justice, and it will be the special investigator who
:04:42. > :04:45.will ultimately take the decision whether that did indeed take place.
:04:46. > :04:53.Confusing the whole picture now is the idea from President Trump, or
:04:54. > :04:57.the suggestion that President Trump is considering firing the special
:04:58. > :05:04.investigator. I do not think this is true. This rumour came from a man
:05:05. > :05:09.who did not meet with the president, and simply said that he heard the
:05:10. > :05:16.president might be considering firing Robert Miller. This was not
:05:17. > :05:20.really confirmed by President Trump's attorney, who said he would
:05:21. > :05:25.not comment on whether or not the president would do that. This is
:05:26. > :05:30.spinning the wheels over nothing, and Sean Spicer made it very clear
:05:31. > :05:42.that Chris Roddy, the originator of this, had nothing to do with the
:05:43. > :05:48.White House. -- DUP. You should know that Chris Ruddy is not someone who
:05:49. > :05:53.has just made that up, he has been on this programme before. He did not
:05:54. > :06:00.meet with the president in the White House, and we heard this morning
:06:01. > :06:05.that the president was not considering it, and he would not
:06:06. > :06:09.consent to the firing of Robert Mueller. We just want to show our
:06:10. > :06:13.audience, here are the scenes from the Senate. This is where Jeff
:06:14. > :06:20.Sessions is going to come in. He is not there yet, the Senators will
:06:21. > :06:26.troop into those chairs as soon as the hearing begins. I want to ask
:06:27. > :06:29.about the firing of the FBI director, James,, because there is
:06:30. > :06:34.something else that the senators will be asking Jeff Sessions about.
:06:35. > :06:37.Particularly this idea that Jeff Sessions was asked by the president
:06:38. > :06:45.to leave the room on February 14 in the Oval Office, when James, you
:06:46. > :06:48.said President Trump asks him to let the Flynn investigation go. Would it
:06:49. > :06:51.not have been better for the Attorney General to be in on those
:06:52. > :06:59.meetings with the director of the FBI? Not necessarily, because the
:07:00. > :07:03.Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, had recused himself from the
:07:04. > :07:08.investigation into Russian collusion, so in that scenario, it
:07:09. > :07:14.would not be. But even James, eight, although he did not cite this and
:07:15. > :07:17.has written testimony, said that the president hoped the investigation
:07:18. > :07:21.would end, not that he directed him, and he did say that he did not feel
:07:22. > :07:25.directed by the White House. Jill, he has come to be grilled about how
:07:26. > :07:33.many meetings he had with the Russian ambassador. -- Joe. He has
:07:34. > :07:40.disclosed some of the meetings that he had had with the ambassador, in
:07:41. > :07:43.his capacity as a campaign official. What he has not disclosed as the
:07:44. > :07:49.meetings he had as a senator, and what I think James, was referring to
:07:50. > :07:52.in his testimony last week, a third meeting that took place at a cell,
:07:53. > :07:58.and that is something I think we need to hear today. It was a
:07:59. > :08:04.reception at the Mayflower hotel attended by many other diplomats,
:08:05. > :08:08.many other members of Congress and members of the Senate. What do the
:08:09. > :08:10.viewers out there think that the UK ambassador is doing right now in
:08:11. > :08:16.Washington, DC? His meeting members of Congress in both houses. This is
:08:17. > :08:22.something that happens in the order of business for the US
:08:23. > :08:26.representatives. I do not think there were any secret microchips
:08:27. > :08:37.past, no secret notes passed, this is not what we are talking about.
:08:38. > :08:42.That really does not call to mind the kind of secret meetings that I
:08:43. > :08:53.think the media is trying to portray. There, Joe, thank you.
:08:54. > :08:56.Thank you for joining us,. It is interesting, we've just heard from a
:08:57. > :09:00.Republican and from a Democrat, and the audience will have to make up
:09:01. > :09:05.their mind. And the prosecutors will have to get more of the details. But
:09:06. > :09:10.there is such a sub opinion on this one here in the United States, with
:09:11. > :09:15.Democrats thinking that something is going on, there was collusion or
:09:16. > :09:17.obstruction of justice, there was perjury, and Republicans equally
:09:18. > :09:28.convinced that the Democrats are just tried to make political hay out
:09:29. > :09:34.of this. Does it mean that every argument in Washington, every point
:09:35. > :09:40.put forward at the moment, is fiercely partisan? Yes, which is why
:09:41. > :09:45.Robert Mueller is so critical of this. He will sort through all of
:09:46. > :09:53.the evidence and come up with something more concrete, the special
:09:54. > :09:58.crosses -- prosecutor. What is so important about these sessions?
:09:59. > :10:04.Because of the questions that we discuss. Jeff Sessions has been
:10:05. > :10:11.close to Donald Trump throughout the campaign, taking a key spot in the
:10:12. > :10:19.Trump Administration as Attorney General. He oversees enforcement of
:10:20. > :10:23.laws, and including the FBI. It is up to Jeff Sessions how forthcoming
:10:24. > :10:29.he wants to be, he could claim that some of the stuff is covered by
:10:30. > :10:33.executive privilege and he will not reveal details of conversations with
:10:34. > :10:37.the president. But what I will really be looking for is during his
:10:38. > :10:43.testimony last week, James Comey said that he was in the Oval Office
:10:44. > :10:47.on February 14 with the president, and the president told everyone in
:10:48. > :10:51.the room to leave and James Comey to stay there. And one of the people
:10:52. > :10:57.who hung around in that room in the Chile was Jeff Sessions, and
:10:58. > :11:03.according to James Comey, the president told Jeff Sessions he had
:11:04. > :11:08.to go. He shrugged and left the, and NetMeeting when it was just James
:11:09. > :11:12.Comey and President Trump, that is when he said that President Trump
:11:13. > :11:14.told him to back off the investigation into Michael Flynn,
:11:15. > :11:19.the formal national security adviser. I want to here what Jeff
:11:20. > :11:25.Sessions said happened before and after that meeting, and if he
:11:26. > :11:29.corroborates James, a's account, that will give a little indication
:11:30. > :11:35.that maybe Donald Trump knew what he was doing was not such a good idea.
:11:36. > :11:38.But a loss of this will come down to interpretation. You can see a
:11:39. > :11:42.scenario where he would say, he came up to me and said don't leave me
:11:43. > :11:45.alone with the president again. And James Comey said there was this
:11:46. > :11:53.pause, and James Comey looked at him blankly. He might not think that he
:11:54. > :12:01.reacted that way that there was a problem, and it comes down to he he
:12:02. > :12:04.said. Absolutely, nobody knows what happened in that room between James
:12:05. > :12:07.Comey and Donald Trump, and it will be interesting to see what Jeff
:12:08. > :12:16.Sessions says today, but what he does not say will also be
:12:17. > :12:21.interesting. The Justice Department said that they did provide a memo to
:12:22. > :12:25.James Comey about how to interact with the president, the separation
:12:26. > :12:31.of the FBI and the White House. But we may not know exactly, Jeff
:12:32. > :12:36.Sessions may put this in a more friendly narrative for the president
:12:37. > :12:42.today. I have one theory about this, which is that the President, you
:12:43. > :12:45.will remember, has said that James Comey is a liar, effectively. If
:12:46. > :12:51.during the course of these hearings, we hear Jeff Sessions corroborate
:12:52. > :12:56.what James Comey has said, that would tend to give more credence and
:12:57. > :13:00.credibility to the fired FBI director, and I wonder if you think
:13:01. > :13:06.that the default is true and then puts Mr Trump in a slightly tricky
:13:07. > :13:09.position. He would have to say that James Comey was lying about these
:13:10. > :13:14.encounters when we hear Jeff Sessions saying that what he
:13:15. > :13:18.reported was true. We have to remember that Jeff Sessions will be
:13:19. > :13:23.under oath, so if he corroborates what James Comey has said, even the
:13:24. > :13:27.details of the meeting of the circumstances... Here is Jeff
:13:28. > :13:30.Sessions. I am just going to interrupt you because he has just
:13:31. > :13:36.walked into the room, the man of the moment. Jeff Sessions, a long-time
:13:37. > :13:40.associate of President Trump, formerly a US senator, and he got
:13:41. > :13:45.close to President Trump during the campaign. I remember talking to Jeff
:13:46. > :13:55.Sessions at one of the debates as he was trying to guide the presidential
:13:56. > :13:58.campaign. Here is Richard Burr, the senior Republican on the Senate
:13:59. > :14:04.intelligence committee. And here is Mark Warner, the Democrat with him.
:14:05. > :14:07.Donald Trump will be watching this quite closely because there has been
:14:08. > :14:17.speculation over the last few days that he is not particularly pleased
:14:18. > :14:20.with what Jeff Sessions has said. Anyway, Jeff Sessions is under a lot
:14:21. > :14:25.of pressure because he will know that the boss is tuning in. And if
:14:26. > :14:29.he is nervous about his job prospects, he will try to sue the
:14:30. > :14:33.right things during the course of this hearing. But as Anthony said,
:14:34. > :14:38.he is under oath, and after the James Comey hearing I asked both
:14:39. > :14:43.Republican and Democratic senators on Friday if they believed James,
:14:44. > :14:47.you're the president, they said that only one person was under oath,
:14:48. > :14:51.James Comey, and when you are under oath, you tend to tell the truth.
:14:52. > :14:57.The president will be expecting Jeff Sessions to stand up for him, I
:14:58. > :15:00.imagine, and to stand up for his version of events, and perhaps to
:15:01. > :15:04.make it clear that he does not believe James Comey's version of
:15:05. > :15:08.events. That is certainly what the president would like to hear. The
:15:09. > :15:17.senators are getting ready, there is Richard Burr, the chairman of the
:15:18. > :15:18.committee. We know that they are not particularly short winded. Let's
:15:19. > :15:38.listen. Attorney General Sessions, we
:15:39. > :15:41.appreciate your willingness to appear before the committee today.
:15:42. > :15:42.We thank you for your years of dedicated service as a member of
:15:43. > :15:44.this