Sessions Caught In a Lie. Met Twice w/ Russians During Trump Campaign
The US Justice Department has confirmed that Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with Russian officials at least twice during the Trump presidential campaign. This is a problem because Sessions denied ever meeting with Russian officials under oath, his confirmation hearing testimony was at best misleading, and at worst a boldfaced lie and a cover up.
During his confirmation hearing in January, Sessions was asked under oath if he or anyone on the Trump campaign had communications with Russian officials during the Trump Presidential campaign, he replied, “I’m not aware of any of those activities,” and added, “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.”
According the US Justice Department (Via Washington Post) Sessions met with the Russian ambassador Kislyak privately on Sept 8th, at that time Sessions was heavily involved in the Trump Presidential campaign as well as an acting Senator and senior member of the Armed Services Committee. Time.com also reported Sessions also had contact with Kislyak in July but the contact was in a public setting in which Kislyak approached Sessions after a Heritage Foundation speech.
The timing of the Sept 8th meeting is significant because it was at the height of probes into the Russia election hacking scandal. For example on September 9th the NYtimes was reporting that “American Intelligence agencies have concluded with “high confidence” that Russia acted covertly in the latter stages of the presidential campaign to harm Hillary Clinton and promote Donald Trump.”
Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak (left) & Attorney General Jeff Sessions (right) reportedly met privately on September 8th 2016.
This Wednesday Sessions released a statement saying ” I have never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign”, he also wrote in his statement, “I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.”
Sarah Isgur Flores, Sessions’ spokeswoman from AG told the Washington Post on Wednesday, “he was asked during the hearing about communications between Russia and the Trump campaign – not about meetings he took as a senator and a member of the Armed Services Committee.”
So their defense is that Sessions met with Russian officials privately as a ‘Senator’ and not a member of the Trump campaign? Is that a joke? Sessions clearly states under oath that during the campaign, “I did not have communications with the Russians.” Yet his own Justice Department is confirming he did meet with them on no less than two occasions. The allegations are not about what Sessions discussed during his meetings with the Russians, the allegations are that he met with the Russians during the campaign and told the American people under oath, that he did not.
Sessions. Photo: USA Today
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in her statement: “After lying under oath to Congress about his own communications with the Russians, the Attorney General must resign,” , adding that “Sessions is not fit to serve as the top law enforcement officer of our country.”
Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) who questioned Sessions in his confirmation hearing had this to say on Wednesday: “If it’s true that Attorney General Sessions met with the Russian ambassador in the midst of the campaign, then I am very troubled that his response to my questioning during his confirmation hearing was, at best, misleading.”
Franken added: “It is now clearer than ever that the attorney general cannot, in good faith, oversee an investigation at the Department of Justice and the FBI of the Trump-Russia connection, and he must recuse himself immediately.”
Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was fired last month after it was revealed that he discussed US sanctions on Russia with Kislyak before Trump took office.
The Washington Post originally broke this story, read it HERE.
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