Washington, DC – Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, released the following statement on the testimony of former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, who testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence today:
“Today we learned that Mr. Comey, a long-time prosecutor, concluded that the President of the United States intended to obstruct an FBI investigation. That alone is remarkable testimony. Mr. Comey painted a picture of a President so obsessed with getting out from under the ‘cloud’ of the Russia investigation that he asked the FBI Director to ‘let go’ one investigation and to prematurely vindicate Trump in another.
“Comey also raised new and troubling questions about White House officials’ complicity in the President’s improper and obstructive conduct, Attorney General Sessions’s contacts with the Russians, and Sessions’s role in Comey’s firing—after he had recused himself from the Russia investigation.
“Today’s hearing shows how important Senate hearings can be. The Judiciary Committee in particular needs to ask of Attorney General Sessions why he walked out of a room leaving his FBI Director alone with a President whose campaign links to Russia were the subject of investigation. I will work with Judiciary Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Feinstein and Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee Chairman Graham to continue to pursue the truth wherever it may lead.”
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