Jeff Sessions Deflects Questions About Role in Michael Cohen Investigation

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions testifies in July 2017. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi/ NLJ [/caption] U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday deflected questions about whether he has recused from the investigation into President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, telling senators he had “given it some thought” and determined that Justice Department policy prohibited him from answering definitively. Sessions told U.S. Senators he was honoring his recusal from matters related to Trump’s presidential campaign, including special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. But Session he said it would be “inappropriate” to state whether he had recused himself from the department’s investigation of Cohen, whose office and hotel room was raided by the FBI earlier this month. “The best answer for me, having given it some thought, is that I shouldn’t announce that,” Sessions said, responding to a question from U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy. “I have sought advice on those matters. I have not met with the top ethics person on it. But I can assure you I have not violated my recusal,” said Sessions, who appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee to testify about the Justice Department's budget. The appearance before the Senate panel came a day after Bloomberg, citing an anonymous source, reported that Sessions had declined to recuse himself from the Cohen investigation but would consider stepping back from specific questions tied to the probe. According to news reports, federal agents were searching for records related to payments Cohen arranged to two women who claim they had affairs with Trump. Cohen’s lawyer, McDermott Will & Emery partner Stephen Ryan, has said agents in New York had conducted the raids after receiving a referral from Mueller’s office. On the day of the raids, the law firm Squire Patton Boggs said it no longer had a “strategic alliance” with Cohen. The arrangement was first announced in April 2017, with the firm saying it had teamed with Cohen to “advance the interests” of clients. Trump had repeatedly criticized Sessions over his recusal from Mueller’s investigation and lashed out against the raids in the Cohen investigation. In recent weeks, speculation has swirled about Trump possibly firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who took over the Russian investigation following Sessions’s recusal. Leahy asked Sessions whether he would resign in the event of Rosenstein’s or Mueller’s firing. Sessions, according to the Washington Post, reportedly told the White House that he would leave his post if Trump fired Rosenstein. Sessions said Leahy's question called for a “speculative answer.” “I just am not able to do that,” he said. U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood in Manhattan has set a hearing for Thursday in the dispute over the records that prosecutors seized from Cohen's office and hotel. Geoffrey Berman, the Manhattan U.S. attorney, is recused in the Cohen investigation, putting his deputy, Robert Khuzami, in charge. Khuzami is a former Kirkland & Ellis partner who joined the prosecution office in January. Read more:Skadden’s Pat Fitzgerald Representing ‘Best Friend’ Jim ComeyAfter FBI Raid, Squire Says It Severed Ties to Trump Lawyer Michael CohenAmid Mueller Probe, Gregory Craig Retires From SkaddenCohen Leans Toward Big Law in Proposed Special Master Candidates