Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) cast doubt on accusations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials with a series of pointed questions in a Tuesday hearing on the matter.
During Attorney General Jeff Sessions's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Cotton likened the accusations, levied against Sessions and others, to something out of a spy novel. He opened by asking the question which was central to the investigation but which, somehow, had not yet been asked.
"Did Donald Trump or any of his associates in the campaign collude with Russia in hacking those emails and releasing them to the public? That's where we started six months ago," Cotton said.
"We have now heard from six of the eight Democrats on this committee, and to my knowledge, I don't think a single one of them asked that question," he said.
This, Cotton pointed out, was because there was little if any public evidence for the substance of the collusion claims.
Maybe Democrats haven't brought up the question, "because Jim Comey said last week, as he said to Donald Trump, that three times he assured him that he is not under investigation. Maybe it's because multiple Democrats on this committee have stated that they have seen no evidence, thus far, after six months of our investigation and eleven months of an FBI investigation of any such collusion," Cotton said.
Cotton asked Sessions if he knew about spy's trade craft, or even about spy fiction.
"Do you like spy fiction? John le Carré? Daniel Silva? Jason Matthews?... Do you like Jason Bourne or James Bond movies?" asked Cotton.
"No ... yes, I do." responded a grinning Sessions.
"Have you ever in any of these fantastical situations heard of a plot line so ridiculous that a sitting United States Senator and an ambassador colluded at an open setting with hundreds of other people to pull off the greatest caper in the history of espionage?" Cotton asked.
Sessions agreed with the thrust of the questions, saying that accusations of collusions leveled against him were unreasonable.
Cotton then turned to last Thursday's testimony by fired FBI Director James Comey, in which Comey alluded to classified information that caused the FBI to expect Sessions to recuse himself.
"I guess one reason why you wanted to testify today, in public, last week Mr. Comey in characteristic dramatic and theatrical fashion alluded ominously to what you call innuendo. That there was some kind of classified intelligence that suggested you might have colluded with Russia, or that you might otherwise have acted improperly," Cotton said.
"Do you understand why he made that allusion?" he asked.
"Actually, I do not," the Attorney General said.
Cotton also asked about Comey's other statements on Sessions, as well as asking "why Mr. Comey mistrusted President Trump from their first meeting." Comey had previously said that he had once asked Sessions to never leave him alone with Trump. Sessions said that he was not "able to speculate" on the cause of the mistrust.
Cotton then brought up "the potential crimes that we know have happened": the ongoing leaks from the White House to the media, including a leak of the Intelligence Committee's closed meeting with Comey last Thursday.
"Are these leaks serious threats to our national security, and is the Department of Justice taking them with the appropriate degree of seriousness in investigating and ultimately going to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law?" Cotton asked.
"Thank you, Senator, We have had one successful case very recently in Georgia," Sessions said, alluding to the charging of NSA contractor Reality Winner last week.
He went on to say that the leaks were "extraordinarily damaging to the United States security," insisting that "we cannot have persons in our intelligence agencies, investigative agencies, or in Congress leaking sensitive matters."
President Donald Trump promised to identify and prosecute leakers following the leaking of information about the terrorist attack in Manchester, England.