Give us information about the departments false statements that were made to this Committee Gun lobbying in fast and furious, and the information had nothing to do with communications with the president and not advocate any constitutional privilege. Still he would not answer. , and then chairman leahy did not direct him to do so. Then, at another time, when same questionct you have been asked sometimes, senator general sessions, when holder testified on fast and furious he said the exact same thing that attorney general sessions is saying today. Quoting holder, we will act in a way that is consistent with what other attorney generals have made determinations as to what information can be shared with congressional oversight committees. And these are republican as well as democratic attorneys general. And i will act in a manner that is consistent with the history and the tradition of the department. Then i said, you are refusing to provide drafts of that february 4 letter . That goes way back to 2010 or 2011, and emails about the drafts even though they have been subpoenaed by the house without a valid constitutional privilege, that, of course, risks contempt of congress. Why would you risk contempt of congress to prevent us from finding out who reviewed the drafts of that letter and whether they knew they contained false statements . This is what the attorney general holder said. Well, i will certainly try to work with you and providing all the relevant information that we can. We will, however act in a way , that is consistent with what other attorneys general have made determinations as to what information can be shared with congressional oversight committees. And these are republican as well as democratic attorneys general. And i will act in a manner consistent with the history and tradition of the department. Senator leahy is next for her a second round. Five minutes. Senator leahy thank you. I think it is generally accepted the people here, the press knows this. 9d rosensteins may memorandum tying director comings pardon to his handling of the Clinton Administration served as a pretext. President trump fired director coming due to the russia investigation. President trump has said as much. Now, the press recently reported letter pennedent , by President Trump to justify firing director coming because of the russia investigation. One report says you are involved in discussions in the oval office surrounding the initial letter, not the clinton won, but the russian one. One but thelinton russian one. When you signed off on the may 9 memorandum, you did, the president did, when you signed up on the may 9 memorandum time comings determination to the clinton investigation, were you aware of the initial letter . A. G. Sessions senator leahy, i also believe it consumes a possible communication for the president of the United States, and the same privilege would apply. Senator leahy so you are not going to answer if you are aware of the russia one . A. G. Sessions i think that is the proper course for the attorney general at this time. Senator leahy you think that. I dont. My concern is you are part of the russian facade and went along with it. And im sorry. I have known you for years, and i am sorry you would do that. Now let me ask you another area. , President Trump says he believes the cuban government is responsible for sonic attacks against our diplomats. I have heard all the reports. We cant find anything that connects the cuban government to a sonic attack. I doubt they have the capability for such a thing. Cubans, after this had gone on for a while, we told him about it. Bring the fbi down. Bring the fbi. They said please feel free. It took us weeks to get around to doing that. Do you know of any evidence to support the president s assertion that the cuban government is responsible . Now, we are not talking about privilege here, because he said this openly. Do you share the president s conclusion that the cuban government is responsible . A. G. Sessions i almost called the mr. Chairman again. Senator grassley might get upset with me. I did serve a long time under your chairmanship, so it did hurt me to say you think i am part of a facade. I am not part of a facade. But on this question of cuba, it is a matter that may be let me just say this. I cant confirm or deny the existence of an investigation it has not been confirmed by an authoritative Government Agency i dont believe. Are you aware that the cuban government do you have any evidence that the cuban government is responsible . A. G. Sessions im just not able to comment. Do you know why it took so long for the f. B. I. To accept an invitation to go down and investigate . Come on in. Bring all of your equipment. Bring anything you want. It took us weeks to make up our mind to do it. Any reason for that . A. G. Sessions i would say to you i will consider your oncerns. I have yet to see any evidence that the cuban government is responsible. If there is, have someone meet with me. They can tell me. Would you do that . A. G. Sessions we will valuate that, yes. Now, the citizenship a reliable indicator of worst r terrorist threats . A. G. Sessions i dont know exactly what you mean by that. The basis of the president s travel ban. Both former director colmeand john kelly said it is not a reliable indicator. Ill ask you this question. Youre free to answer it the way you want. We talked about dhaka. You argued it was obamas failure to enforce laws. It put us at danger of crime risk or terrorism. How many Daca Recipients have been involved in terrorism . A. G. Sessions i think in the previous hearing you asked one my attorneys from the department of justice about that. I believe you were incorrect in the quote to him. I asked if he could provide a single example of a daca recipient involved in terrorista activity. He said he was not aware of any examples. A. G. Sessions most importantly, i want to correct that my comments did not focus solely on Daca Recipients. It was others that entered the country unlawfully. I believe that is correct. I read back the division chief said he did not know of a single dam of Daca Recipients being involved in terrorist activity. A. G. Sessions we know 2,000 have been taken off as Daca Recipients for serious crime,. Dreamers are less likely to be incarcerated than native born americans of the same age. A. G. Sessions i dont believe in open borders. Thank you, mr. Chairman. 2,000 out of 780,000 daca applicants were found to have disqualifying criminal records. Is that what youre saying . A. G. Sessions im saying after they were accepted into the daca program. Actually accepted, 2,000 vob removed as a result of 2,000 out of 780,000 a. G. Sessions i think that is correct number over a short period of time. Im not saying there was any disproportionate amount of crime out of that Group Although we are seeing young gang members being infiltrated. That is after the deadline for daca so they would not be in that group. They are escaping the background check, fingerprinting requirements for daca . A. G. Sessions after they have done a background check, been approved for daca, i believe 2,000 have been convicted of some serious crime. Out of 780,000. We had people turned down by guns because they have felony records. A. G. Sessions that is not the basis as you know for our daca difficulties. It was a legal matter from our perspective. I do think senator, i know you care about it. If we could seize this opportunity, some good things might happen. I hope they will. I want to make sure i understand the guidance that you released from your department when it comes to lgbq rights and religious freedom. Turned guidance you released to all of the federal agencies. Let me ask you this question. Could a Social SecurityAdministration Employee refuse to accept or process schoolhousal or Survivor Benefits for surviving same sex spouse . A. G. Sessions thats something i never thought would arise. I would have to give give you a written i would like to. Federal contractor refuse to provide services to lgbq people . A. G. Sessions i would say to siting title 7 for this or the guidance . The guidance. A. G. Sessions im not sure that is covered but it. There are others too. This is a challenging issue. When you have said i believe you, that you do not want to discriminate and people are discriminating in the name of their own personal religious liberty. It is a real challenge for us. To reconcile those. Would you like to speak to that . A. G. Sessions yes, i would say that wherever possible, a person should be allowed to freely exercise their religion and not to carry out activities that further something they think is contrary to their faith. But at the same time, if you participate in commercial exchanges, you have limits on what you can do under those laws. Accommodationtype laws. So the balance needs to be properly struck. I think we have. We tried those issues were discussed. We wrestled with this policy. Well send you a list and ask you for your response to those questions. Historically we have struggled with some aspect of that. On the criminal sentencing, when the initiate i ever was announced by the previous administration, they went through an extensive review of criminal justice to see what practices were best to reduce crime and address recidivism. I would like to ask you before rescinding on crime and enacting the new policy, did you conduct a review process . A. G. Sessions we had our career attorneys work intensely on evaluating a lot of good crime policy. The essential project safe neighborhood system has been proven to be successful. That is what we would like to implement. I would say, under this previous policy, we for the first time in 30 years, we have seen significant increases in Violent Crime in america to the degree that im very worried about it. The murder rate particularly is up 20 in two years. Are you concerned about the increased incident of gun violence and gun crimes . A. G. Sessions yes. We already have a substantial increase in gun prosecutions. It would be a top priority of mine as department of justice. I think the Second Quarter of the year, Third Quarter of the year, we had a 25 increase. I think third or Fourth Quarter of this year, we have a 14 increase in gun prosecutions. I encourgs that. I think it does reduce violence. Thank you. Senator . Im sorry. I was hoping that no republican would come back. [laughter] i would like to note for the record that you said that and not me. Im just trying to be polite. I guess i know where i stand. I appreciate it. Thank you for. The ninth Circuit Decision in the sanchezgomez case that ended the safety protocols for detaining. It is obviously very important for arizona. We have a very busy docket as it pertains to immigration. It has the support of the National Sheriffs association, western States Sheriffs Association and the arizona sheriffs association. We have a lot of historic courthouses in arizona that dont lend themselves well to separation between detainees and the public. Often having to share hall ways and door ways without the long standing restraint protocols that existed. It makes it impossible to bring a number of people through system. And it will really hobble the flaufert arizona. Have you looked at this and how do you believe this decision the ninth circuit will impact the courtroom . A. G. Sessions i will be glad to look at it. Im not familiar with it. The issue has been out there for a long time. Judges ence is that decide that fairly day after day. Some people deserve to be shackled but they dont do it unless it is necessary. The ninth circuit, the case would reverse that long standing policy. That is correct. Obviously we have protocols and Court Decisions with regard to jury trials and the appearance of somebody who is restrained. But this is just arraignments. Went before a judge. Really puts court officials, security officials, the public at risk in men circumstances or it ties up our sheriffs and other Law Enforcement officials from actually going out on the beat and doing what they should do. To actually having to be in the courtroom at all times. It is really a problem with regard to implementation of Something Like operation streamline which we spoke about many times. It really inhibits the ability to move the number of people through the system quickly enough because where we used to be able to have 30 or 40 individuals there, arraigned at the same time, now they can only do six or seven. So it simply makes it impossible to move through the docket. Appreciate the d. O. J. s position on this. I hope the Supreme Court grants are there. A. G. Sessions we will review it. With regard to Human Trafficking. Earlier this year, the subcommittee on investigations concluded a twoyear investigation. It revealed the company knowingly facilitated online sex trafficking. In july the subcommittee referred to case to your office for criminal investigation. Can you tell us to the extent that youre able, what the status of that investigation is . A. G. Sessions i dont believe i can. Im not able to now. A review as to whether or not i can comment on it. What the status may be. Well check back with you on that. I have letters of support to stop enabling sex traffickers act. Several of my colleagues would prevent Companies Like backpage. Com from committing online sex trafficking crimes. These are letters from the National Center of missing and exploited children that i would like to submit for the record. Without objection, your letters will be submitted. A. G. Sessions Human Trafficking is a priority of ours. My Deputy Attorney general feels strong aboutette. Rachael brand has made that one of her interests and made a couple of speeches on that recently. We can do more and we will do more. Ok. Thank you. One other item. You mentioned in your opening remarks, with regard to civil forfeitture. That you put some protocols in lace in terms of those whose assets were seized. What other protocols . What are we doing to ensure we have a better system than we have in the past . Im convinced that has been abused at every level. A. G. Sessions we will respond to any problems that are out there that we identify in the future. When the government has probable cause and is able to seize the money usually, Drug Trafficking money usually, the they have a certain period of time to respond. We cut that by at least half if not i believe a little more than half. We have we have directed our assisting United States attorneys to monitor the state authorities and the d. E. A. To make sure the systems are working well. We have required that before we adopt a case from the state that they be trained in proper procedures for a federal court system and not just any Police Officer so they know what they are supposed to do. I think that will be a big help. I believe there is some other they think so. Then i dont know if you were here, but i did announce a accepted out monday a directive to establish an accountability officer wholl be in the deputys Office Monitoring all of these cases, complaints that may occur so we can respond properly. We want this this system is important. It is a top priority. Every Law Enforcement agency in america but it has to be run right. That is going to be our goal. Cutting the time in half, for notification. Is cold comfort for some who have this stretch on for months and years. I hope that we do more than cut the time in half for some of these. Thats just one of the things that would happen. We wont take nothing but good cases. Were winning at the 90 level. St of these cases are open shut. I know your concerns. Im not taking this lightly. We will monitor this problem. Thank you. Attorney general. Ill start with where i ended with the election issues. Turned to russian cybersecurity. As you know, there have now been established by our agency 21 state where is there was some attempt to tack into their election equipment. As senator graham and i have a bill, we tried to get an amendment to the mdaa to provide some more funding to states to beef up their infrastructure. Back up ballots. The bill is carried by mark meadows, the head of the freedom caucus. There is strong bipartisan support for this. Are you aware of any efforts between the department and other federal agencies to assist states in this upcoming election to protect our elections from hacking . A. G. Sessions the f. B. I. Is as has capabilities and has experience in many of these matters and has some really superior capabilities. So i do think it is an important matter. I look forward to working with you on it. And we do not need to this any way subject our election process to some sort electronic alteration on the vote totals. That would be a stunning disaster and cannot happen. Thank you. New topic. When i asked you about Voting Rights at your hearing in january. Are you acknowledging discriminatory voting laws that led to the passage of the votings rights act. Rules and procedures adopted in a number of states with the specific purpose of blocking africanamericans from vote and it was just wrong. They are facing some of the same problems today. The Circuit Court in the North Carolina voter i. D. Case said the North Carolina laws were crafted with surgical precision to keep certain people from voting. So my question is do you believe that voter i. D. Laws that are found to be intentionally discriminatory rve any kind of legitimate policy objective and my second question is why the Justice Department changed its sition on the texas voting i. D. Case. A.