Sessions on Barr Contempt Vote: ‘Congress Should Be More Respectful Really’

WASHINGTON — Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions shared his reaction to the House Judiciary Committee voting to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt of Congress over his handling of Special Counsel Bob Mueller’s final Russia probe report.

Barr has not released the full unredacted Mueller report that includes grand jury material to the House Judiciary Committee.

PJM asked Sessions what he thought about the contempt vote.

“There are institutional needs and duties that heads of agencies have and I think Attorney General Barr, he is very wise about that,” Sessions said after a farewell ceremony for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that was held at the Justice Department on Thursday. “He is very experienced and I think Congress should be more respectful really. You should avoid unnecessary — OK?”

Sessions was then asked how he thinks Barr should handle the current situation with Congress but he did not respond.

During his speech at the ceremony, Sessions praised Rosenstein’s handling of the Russia investigation. Sessions recused himself from the investigation, a decision President Trump opposed.

“Rod, you did your duty as it fell upon you. You didn’t ask for it, that’s for sure,” Sessions said. “You initiated the process, you followed the regulations. The system worked its will. What more could a public servant do?”