Sessions: ‘My Answer Was a Fair and Correct Response’ to the Allegations Made by Franken

EXCERPT:

SESSIONS: "This is what happened. Senator Franken asked me a rambling question after some six hours of testimony that included dramatic new allegations that the United States intelligence community, the U.S. intelligence community, had advised president-elect Trump, quote, ‘that there was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump's surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government’, closed quote. I was taken aback by that explosive allegation, which he said was being reported as breaking news that very day, and which I had not heard. I wanted to refute that immediately; any suggestion that I was part of such an activity. I replied, quote -- I replied to senator Franken this way, quote, ‘Senator Franken, I'm not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate a time or two in that campaign and I did not -- didn’t have -- did not have communications with the Russians and I'm unable to comment on that’, closed quote. That was the context in which I was asked the question and in that context, my answer was a fair and correct response to the charge as I understood it."