Attorney General Jeff Sessions will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Oct. 18, the office of Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, announced Wednesday.
The hearing is a routine oversight hearing of the Department of Justice and it’s budget proposals. Sessions’ staff and Grassley’s top people had been working on a date that worked for the attorney general’s testimony for a few weeks.
Though the hearing is routine for an attorney general ahead of the new fiscal year, Sessions will likely field questions about a July report that he discussed Trump campaign-related matters with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak.
This is also Sessions’ first appearance before the committee — which he was once a part of — since his confirmation hearing earlier this year.
During that hearing, Sessions said he had not met with any Russian officials when he was a senator and advising Trump’s campaign. When that was revealed to be incorrect, Sessions amended his testimony and recused himself from the Justice Department’s Russia investigation.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is also conducting its own Russia investigation, as are other congressional committees.
Sessions will also likely have to answer questions from senators on his relationship with President Trump. A recent report said that Sessions sent the president a letter of resignation after a humiliating berating in the Oval Office after Trump learned Sessions’ recusal had led to the appointment of a special counsel to investigate his campaign’s possible ties to Russia.
