Attorney General Jeff Sessions will deny several of former FBI Director James Comey's claims in his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Axios reports.
Sessions, according to "sources familiar with his thinking," will deny meeting privately with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at an event at the Mayflower Hotel in April 2016, which Comey reportedly suggested during the closed session last week.
A source close to the attorney general told Axios that although Sessions was at the event, he did not recall any interaction with the ambassador, and no private meeting took place.
Sessions will also explain his reason for not disclosing his meeting with Kislyak during the campaign, and will likely reiterate the Justice Department's statement defending him.
"As a United States senator, the attorney general met hundreds — if not thousands — of foreign dignitaries and their staff," DOJ spokesman Ian Prior said in May, according to CNN.
"In filling out the SF-86 form, the attorney general's staff consulted with those familiar with the process, as well as the FBI investigator handling the background check, and was instructed not to list meetings with foreign dignitaries and their staff connected with his Senate activities."
Finally, Sessions will reportedly contradict Comey's characterization of their conversation in which the former FBI director asked the attorney general to act as an intermediary between him and the president.
Comey said under oath last week that he told Sessions he did not want any more direct communication with President Donald Trump, and said in response, Sessions remained silent with only a slight shrug of the shoulders.
Sessions is expected to counter that he told Comey the FBI and the Department of Justice must follow official protocol for communications with the White House, as was stated in a DOJ statement released shortly after the former director's testimony.
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