GOP senator presses Sessions to provide answers to questions he failed to respond to at Senate hearing

Sen. Richard Burr.
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Republican Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.) refused to let Attorney General Jeff Sessions off the hook Tuesday on the questions Sessions declined to answer before the Senate Intelligence Committee. As the hearing wrapped up, Burr, the committee chairman, requested that Sessions consult with the White House to see if he could provide responses to his many unanswered questions about his conversations with President Trump. Senators mostly questioned Sessions' discussions with Trump regarding the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. Burr asked that Sessions then share those responses with the committee in writing.

Sessions' refusal to answer some questions Tuesday frustrated senators; Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) accused Sessions of "obstructing" a congressional investigation, while Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) pressed him to name the vague Department of Justice policy he repeatedly cited to defend his silence.

Sessions did not invoke executive privilege and acknowledged that President Trump had not done so either. Instead, Sessions explained, "I'm protecting the president's constitutional right by not giving it away before he has a chance to review it."

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