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.”