House Intelligence Committee to interview Sessions

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is expected to be interviewed by lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee on Nov. 30.

The Associated Press reported the schedule on Thursday and The Hill confirmed.

The planned testimony comes amid renewed questions about Sessions’s knowledge of contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russians during the 2016 presidential race.

The intelligence committee is also planning to speak with Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin next week as part of its investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

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Akhmetshin was present at a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York, during which Donald Trump Jr., President Trump’s eldest son, met with a Russian lawyer who had promised dirt on Hillary Clinton.

The Senate Intelligence Committee, which is also investigating Russia’s election meddling, has already interviewed Akhmetshin.

The revelation that the House Intelligence Committee is planning to interview Sessions comes after George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about his contacts with a professor with ties to the Russian government during the 2016 race.

According to court documents made public last week, Papadopoulos told campaign officials during a meeting last year that he had connections that could help arrange a meeting between then-candidate Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sessions, who was reportedly at that meeting, turned down the idea. But the revelation that Papadopoulos told campaign officials, including Sessions, of his connections appeared to contradict the attorney general’s previous statements that he did not have knowledge of such contacts.

Carter Page, another former foreign policy adviser to Trump’s campaign, also testified last week that he told Sessions about a trip to Moscow he had planned to take last summer. On that trip, Page said he met with Russian government officials.

Both Sessions and Trump have denied allegations that members of the campaign coordinated with Russian operatives during the 2016 election. The attorney general told the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this year that such a suggestion is a “detestable lie.”

-This report was updated Nov. 15 at 3:25 p.m.