Im not and never was a prosecutor, but i did some criminal defense work back in the day when i practiced law for almost 20 years. It seems to me a president ial campaign using a law firm as a conduit to pay for activities the campaign itself doesnt want to be associated is more than just dirty politics. Its also possibly illegal. To accurately disclose the recipients of campaign dispersements. However, this type of arrangement is not illegal. If its not illegal under current law, i fear were risking opening pandoras box with all sorts of underhanded activities by campaigns being laundered through law firms and shielded under Attorney Client privilege. As the chief Law Enforcement official in this country, do you share similar concerns . And in your opinion, is it legal under current law for a president ial campaign to hide its funding of the compilation and dissemination of political dirt on its opponent by using the law firm to directly pay for the work . I would think its worthy of consideration. But as to the details of them and for me to express an ultimate comment today, im unable to do so. Okay. Thank you. Let me shift over to something entirely different. Federal currently still sites marijuana is a dangerous drug, still prohibited, still illegal under federal law. Yet a number of states have for both medical purposes now even Recreational Purposes have made it legal. What does your departments policy on that relative to enforcing the law . Our policy is that the same really fundamentally as the holder policy. Which is that the federal law remains in effect. But it still remains illegal with regard to federal purposes. Okay. It seems to me that theres always been a tremendous amount of gray area in that whole field which i think as a nation, you know, we need to look much more closely at both from the states point of view and the federal Government Point of view. But thats just my feeling on that. Running out of time. I had about four other things, but let me just go to one final thing here. Ive been very involved in the area of victims rights. I was following henry hydes leadership on this. Introduced a victims rights constitutional amendment years back. Various pieces of legislation on victims rights. Ive also worked closely with the parents of murdered children. And when you talk about something that affects ones family, theres nothing that affects a family more adversely than Something Like that happening. And we still have Capital Punishment on the books both at the federal level and many of our states. Yet these families are dragged left and right up and down back and forth into hearing after hearing. These cases can drag on for more than 20 years before the imposition of Capital Punishment occurs. In some instances it never does. As these people are behind bars, oftentimes they attack, sometimes kill guards, attack, sometimes kill other inmates. Sop what is id be interested to see what is your intentions relative to Capital Punishment in this country . Many states have Capital Punishment. The federal government has Capital Punishment for a number of offenses and specific control. We have a department a recommendation process on an appointed committee on whether to seek or not seek a Death Penalty when a case is charged. Sometimes its a complex thing. Sbu i believe the federal Death Penalty is a part of our law. I think its a legitimate penalty, its constitutional, and we will do our duty even in those circumstances that require the imposition of the Death Penalty. Thank you very much. My times expired. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank you, mr. Attorney general for being here today. Michael flynn is under investigation because of this ties to foreign government. According to various reports, much of his work with these foreign governments went unreported when mr. Flynn was required to make certain disclosures by law. Now, as chairman of the Trump Campaign, National SecurityAdviser Committee and lead adviser on the trump Transition Team, i think you worked closely with mr. Flynn and id like you to answer a few yes or no questions about mr. Flynn. And knowing that mr. Flynn is under investigation, im going to stick to subject matter that predates both the special counsel investigation and your appointment as attorney general. Now, the Foreign Policy platform at the Republican National convention undertook dramatic changes. Did you discuss changes to the republican Foreign Policy platform with mr. Flynn at any point during the campaign . You were the lead of the campaign, but you dont recall discussing it with him . Well, that may be a bit of a stretch. I was asked to lead and form and find some people who had joined and meet with mr. Trump to give him advice and support regarding Foreign Policy. And i did so even though we were not a very effective group, really. You met with ambassador kislyak in november 2016. Did you discuss your meetings with ambassador kislyak with mr. Flynn . Did i discuss mr. Flynn with him . Did you discuss your meeting with the ambassador with mr. Flynn . The ambassador i met with i think some 25 ambassadors that year. I did meet once in my office with mr. Kislyak. And i do not recall and dont believe i communicated any of that information to mr. Flynn. Are you aware of any meetings between ambassador kislyak and mr. Flynn that might have occurred around the time of your meeting with the ambassador . I do not. Okay. In her testimony before the senate in may, former acting attorney general sally yates testified that one week into the trump administration, she notified the administration that mr. Flynn had lie d to Vice President pence about kislyak. As part of the Transition Team and the president s pick for attorney general, in january were you notified when the administration was notified of mr. Flynns lie and his susceptibility to russian blackmail . I dont believe so. All right. We now know that you were aware of the efforts of carter page and George Papadopoulos to meet and establish communications with the russian government. Did you at thats not necessarily true from what mr. Carter page says and i dont recall that. All right. Did you at any point discuss with Michael Flynn the possibility of thencandidate trump or his surrogates meeting with the russian government . I do not recall such a conversation. Did you know flynn was working as a surrogate for the russian government during the campaign . I dont believe i had information to that effect. Did you know he was working for the turkish government after any point of the election . I dont believe so. Were you or anyone on the Trump Campaign aware of mr. Flynns efforts to extradite turkish cleric gulen . Ive read that in the paper recently, but i dont recall ever being made aware of that before this recent release. So you just read about it in the newspaper afterwards . After the inauguration, you did not know that the fbi was requested to conduct a new review of turkeys extradition request for mr. Gulen . The fbi was did you know about that . Im aware that the turkish government continued to press the federal government with regard to seeking the return of mr. Gulen to turkey. Our department had a role to play in that although im not at liberty to discuss the details of that. Did you know that the turkish government allegedly offered 15 million for mr. Flynn to kidnap mr. Gulen . Absolutely not. You mean no. Time of the gentlewoman has expired. Thank you, mr. Chairman and mr. Sessions for your service over the years that you have been front and center. I have a number of things i wanted to discuss. One of them is the daca situation. And it seems you made a Public Statement awhile back about the policy implemented by president obama. Would you care to reiterate that position today . Well, president obama indicated multiple times that daca, he didnt have the power to do daca in the way it was done. And eventual ly they must have changed their minds and executed this policy and take the unlawful people and give them lawful status and work permits and participation in social security. So i felt for some time that that was not proper. A court in texas so held. Another also so held it was unlawful. So what happened was we work on the research but the department of Homeland Security withdrew the policy because it was not defensible in my view. And established a day to close it down of march 5th, i think, of next year . Thats right. The Homeland Security asked for time to wind this program down. And i thought that was appropriate. And theres a lot of public dialogue about what kind of legislation might be passed in conjunction with the daca policy. And thats up in the air right now. The democrats are saying well have everything we want on daca or shut the government down. What should happen if Congress Reaches an impasse and there is no passage of legislation to extend the daca policy. If the president should decide to honor before that march 5th date or around that period of time that he wants to extend the daca policy, what would your position be at that time . Thats hypothetical, senator king. I dont think i should speculate on that. But i do think congress will have to give it thought. We have a law now in place. Congress would have to change it. I would just remark that im watching a lot of people be rewarded for violation of the rule of law and i appreciate your emphasis on rule of law in your testimony today. Multiple times coming back to that point. Mr. King, i would just say it is correct in my view and i think you probably share it that something is lost when you provide an amnesty. Theres a price that will be paid if thats done, but sometimes circumstances are such it may need to be done. But we need to be careful. Thank you. And weve been made aware here theres a backlog in cases. Have you presented any request to congress or a statement that could inform us as to how many resources you might need, how many judges you might need to get this backlog caught up . And then an idea how many we might need to maintain an anticipated level . Thats a very good question. Yes, weve worked on it. We have some preliminary information. Were seeking a total of about 360, 70 judges. We added about 50 to the total. Weve shortened the time process for selecting people, not shorting the training program. I would say on the backlog has gone up dramatically. Its now over 600,000. But the last two or three months, were almost not adding to the backlog. And im told by the additional work were doing by january we will not be adding to the backlog but reducing it. That would be a real change in the trends we were heading on. Then i just ask you to reflect as this committee anticipates the potential of a special counsel to broaden this look that i think is forced upon us in a reluctant way. But i support this special counsel to look back at some times here i believe should be incorporated into this. I look back at october 16th, 2015, when barack obama was speaking of Hillary Clinton and whether she might have violated any security clauses in our statute and in particular 18usc1793. When he said he had no impression that mrs. Clinton had purposely tried to hide something or to squirrel away any information, made the point of intent behind that in april, a similar statement. She would never intentionally put america in any kind of jeopardy. Those words of intent caught my attention when i heard james comey use that very word july 5th of 2016 and it seems as though he latched onto the statements made by president obama and implied that statute as if it were a contention. I dont know that i have a question on that. I want to make sure that i put that into the record so that its under consideration by the doj. Time of the gentleman has expired. Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from texas for five minutes. I thank you very much. Mr. General, do you believe in this book the constitution of the United States . Yes. And will abide by it with all of your intentions . Thats exactly correct. I thank you so very much. I took the liberty of reviewing crimes against children especially those dealing with sexual or physical abuse. As you well know, leigh coffman, debbie miller, Beverly Young nelson these young women have accused this individual, judge moore who is running for a federal office of child sexual activity. Do you believe these young women . I am i have no reason to doubt these young women. With that in mind of these young women, do you believe george moore should be seated in the senate if we wins and would you introduce investigations by the doj regarding his actions . We will evaluate every case as to whether or not it should be investigated. This kind of kags would normally be a state case. I would say, representative jackson lee, that the ethics people at the department of justice and ive talked to them about that when this campaign started, its the seat i used to hold. They advised me the attorney general should not be involved in this campaign thank you, i have a short time. I want to make sure that if he comes to the United States senate if he comes to the United States senate, that there would be the possibility of referring his case for at least a federal review by the department of justice. We will do our duty. Let me also refer you to the meeting with mr. Papadopoulos. You well know in addition to his comments in the meeting regarding a meeting between trump and mr. Putin had series of meetings dealing with and as you can see trump, mr. Papadopoulos, and you leading that committee, i cannot imagine your memory would fail you so much. But moving on, he was in that meeting. But you also have Steven Miller who is a Senior Policy Adviser who was noted in the stipulated statement of defense to receive confirmation from papadopoulos about his constant interaction with the russians to intrude in the 2016 election. You continued in the senate to not answer the question. Now in light of the facts that are now part of the record, do you wish to change your testimony before the Senate Intelligence committee on june 13, 2017, where you said i have never met with or had any conversation with any russians or any foreign officials. Let me jump to the final part. I have no knowledge of any such conversations by anyone connected to the Trump Campaign. Do you want to admit under oath that you did not tell the truth or misrepresented or do you want to correct your testimony right now . Youre referring to my time is short and i have two more questions, please. Well, im not able to respond because i dont think i understand what you were saying. Im asking your Intelligence Committee testimony, do you want to change it where you indicated you had no knowledge of involvement of the trump individuals involved in conversations regarding the Trump Campaign russians. And mr. Miller gave supported mr. Trumps conference where he said russia if youre listening i hope you find the emails. Do you want to change your testimony where you said i have no knowledge of any such conversations by anyone connected to the Trump Campaign regarding russians in the campaign. That was a testimony on june 13. Im not able to understand. All right. Let me move forward on can i say this . Mr. Chairman let me move to witnesses are allowed to answer the question. The gentleman keeps saying he cannot recalling with cannot recall gentlewoman will suspend. The witness wants to answer the question she asked. I should be given extra time and i do not have extra time. Would the gentlewoman suspend. The witness will answer the question. Yes or no. Does he want to change his testimony in the Intelligence Committee . I would just say this. I stand by this testimony at the Intelligence Committee. I have never met with or had any conversation with any russians or any foreign officials concerning any type of interference with the campaign or election in the United States. Further i have no knowledge of any such conversations. By anyone connected to the Trump Campaign. Thank you very much for that. What i did say in my opening statement, i explained that when i was asked in october just a few weeks ago when i was asked about the matter, did i have any knowledge of anyone who had talked to the russians, i indicated that i had not recall that meeting when that occurred. But i would have been pleased to have responded and explained it if id recalled it. Ive tried to be honest about that and give you my best response and did throughout all the testimony ive given. You stand by your testimony. Thank you very much. Are you familiar with the names eric garner, walter scott, tamir rice . My question is as i hold up the poster dealing with the report under your jurisdiction, black identity extremists, it is interesting to me that you are opposing individual who is are posing lethal force similar to the attack on reverend dr. Martin luther king but there seems to be no report for the tiki torch march. Why is there an attack on black can you answer that question quickly . When was that report completed . In august of 2017. Im not aware of i have not studied that report. I ask you, too, because its an attack on individuals who are simply trying t