By NAN Contributor
News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Weds. June 14, 2017: U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions seemed to squirm and quiver in his seat as Caribbean roots Sen. Kamala Harris of California got her five minutes in Tuesday at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russia and the Trump campaign.
As the former California Attorney General put her prosecutorial glare on Sessions and turned up the heat, the US AG admitted that he was becoming “nervous.”
It all began as the Jamaican roots freshman Democrat, the only black female Senator in the House, got into a tense interrogation of Sessions.
The two talked over each other as Harris challenged Sessions to produce documents on his work as a top advisor to the campaign.
But Sessions answered that in a campaign “you’re moving so fast that you don’t keep notes.”
“You meet people. I didn’t keep notes of my conversation with the Russian ambassador,” he said.
But Harris quickly interrupted.
“Will you provide this committee with the notes that you did maintain?” she asked sternly.
“As appropriate, I will supply the committee with documents,” he replied.
“Can you please tell me what you mean when you say appropriate?” she fired again.
And so it went for the full five minutes of Senator Harris’ allotted time.
When Sessions said he didn’t recall any conversations with Russian businessmen at the 2016 Republican convention, Harris interrupted again.
At this point, a clearly annoyed Session responded: “Will you let me qualify it? If I don’t qualify it, you’ll accuse me of lying. So I need to be correct as best I can. I’m not able to be rushed this fast. It makes me nervous.”
Harris without skipping a beat then demanded to know what policy Sessions was relying upon when he refused to discuss his conversations with President Trump and Sessions began describing the principle behind the policy.
But the Senator again interrupted him saying: “Sir, I ‘m not asking about the principle.”
Sessions looked beet red at that point with his eyes seeming ready to pop out their sockets.
He was then saved by fellow Republican, Senator John McCain who butted in by asking Senate Committee Chairman Richard M. Burr of North Carolina to let the witness answer the question.”
At this point, Burr told Harris: “Senators will allow the chair to control the hearing. Sen. Harris, let him answer.”
Harris, who was born to a Jamaican father, later tweeted: “It was a simple question. Can Sessions point to the policy, in writing, that allows him to not answer a whole host of our questions today?”
And she also summed up Sessions answers as “I don’t know.” “I don’t recall.” “I don’t remember,” before asking: “Did you refresh your memory with any written documents?”
