Sessions to appear before Senate intelligence committee

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whose contacts with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential campaign has sparked questions, agreed Saturday to appear before the Senate intelligence committee as it investigates alleged Russian meddling in the election.

Sessions recused himself in March from a federal investigation into contacts between Russia and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump after acknowledging he had met twice last year with the Russian ambassador to the United States.

He had told lawmakers at his January confirmation hearing he had not met with Russians during the campaign.

Sessions has been dogged by questions about possible additional encounters with the ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. Senate Democrats have raised questions about whether the men met at an April 2016 foreign policy event at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. The Justice Department has said while Sessions was there for a speech by Trump, there were no meetings or private encounters.

Former FBI director James Comey raised additional questions at a hearing Thursday, saying the FBI expected Sessions to recuse himself weeks before he did. Comey declined to elaborate in an open setting.

In a letter Saturday to Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., Sessions said he had been scheduled to discuss the Justice Department budget before House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees, but it had become clear some members would focus their questions on the Russia investigation. Shelby chairs the Senate appropriations subcommittee.

Sessions said his decision to accept the intelligence committee's invitation to appear was due in part to Comey's testimony. He wrote "it is important that I have an opportunity to address these matters in the appropriate forum." He said deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein would appear before the subcommittees.

Briefing congressional appropriators on the Justice Department's budget is a critical part of the attorney general's job. The fact Sessions would delegate that task to his deputy showed the Russia investigation was distracting him from his core duties.