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Attorney General Jeff Sessions tried to get out of testifying in public, but the Senate Intelligence Committee is debating whether to deny the AG’s request to testify in closed session.

Video of a report from CNN’s Manu Raju:

SENATORS surprised by Sessions' offer to testify before Intel; now debating whether to let him do it in private. https://t.co/ziWBgTPVLD — Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 11, 2017

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Raju reported that the Senate Intelligence Committee was caught off guard by the Attorney General’s last second decision to testify in private. The Attorney General was trying to avoid testifying at the public Appropriations Committee hearing because he knew that he would be asked about Russia. The dodge that Sessions came up with that he would privately testify in front of Intelligence Committee on the same day that he was supposed to give testimony at the public hearing.

It might have worked for Sessions if Democrats had not immediately expressed outrage and accused him of ducking questions about Russia. There is nothing that Attorney General Sessions can’t say at a public hearing. The reality is that Sessions doesn’t want to stand up and face questions in public about his unreported meetings with Russian officials and the firing of James Comey.

The Senate Intelligence Committee needs to do the right thing for the country and not allow the Attorney General to testify in a closed session. Sessions can be given a choice to testify in public, testify in a public/private dual session, or don’t testify at all.

Should the Attorney General decide not to show up at all, it will only make things worse down the line.