Angus King: National security only reason for closed hearing

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) on Monday said he believes Attorney General Jeff Sessions should testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in an open hearing.

“My inclination is that this should be in an open session,” he said during an interview on “CBS This Morning.”

“The only reason you go into a close session is if it’s a national security issue, and I don’t believe we’re talking about national security issues here.”

{mosads}King said if during the hearing, national security issues are raised, the committee can “cut off that line of questioning and defer it to a closed session.”

“My starting point is that the American people need to understand this whole issue,” he said.

Sessions is expected to testify this week before the Senate Intelligence Committee, but the committee has not yet said whether the hearing will be open or closed.

Sessions was originally supposed to testify in front of the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees this week but said in a statement he will send a deputy to that hearing instead.