1 - Goose
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Sessions did not disclose meetings with Russian ambassador
Drip, Drip, Drip.
Sessions did not disclose meetings with Russian ambassador
(CNN)Attorney General Jeff Sessions met twice last year with the top Russian diplomat in Washington whose interactions with President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Mike Flynn led to Flynn's firing, according to the Justice Department.
Sessions did not mention either meeting during his confirmation hearings when he said he knew of no contacts between Trump surrogates and Russians. A Justice official said Sessions didn't mislead senators during his confirmation.
The Washington Post first reported on Sessions' meetings with the official.
Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador, is considered by US intelligence to be one of Russia's top spies and spy-recruiters in Washington, according to current and former senior US government officials.
Russian officials dispute this characterization.
Sessions met with Kislyak twice, in July on the sidelines of the Republican convention, and in September in his office when Sessions was a member of the Senate Armed Services committee. Sessions was an early Trump backer and regular surrogate for him as a candidate.
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
- Goose
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Re: Sessions did not disclose meetings with Russian ambassador
Bush's ethics lawyer on Sessions talks with Russia ambassador: 'Good way to go to jail'
Richard Painter, the former White House ethics lawyer to President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007, blasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions after it was reported that he spoke with the Russian ambassador while Trump was on the campaign trail.
When asked in the hypothetical during his confirmation hearing as Attorney General what he would do if he learned a member of Trump's campaign had communicated with the Russian government over the course of the 2016 campaign, Sessions responded: “I’m not aware of any of those activities ... I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.”
But the Washington Post reported Wednesday night that Sessions had spoken to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak twice during 2016, once in a private conversation.
Officials said Sessions did not consider his conversations with Kislyak relevant to the lawmakers’ questions and did not remember their discussion in detail. And as a senior member of the committee, he regularly met foreign ambassadors, his spokeswoman said.
Painter blasted the statement on Twitter.
"Misleading the Senate in sworn testimony about one own contacts with the Russians is a good way to go to jail," Painter tweeted.
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
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Thread Starter- tennyson
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Re: Sessions did not disclose meetings with Russian ambassador
One more gets sucked into the Russian connection issue.
The Trump Administration will not be able to shake this whole thing till there is a complete independent investigation to either vindicate or implicate all those that appear to have misstated or lied about their contacts.
It also complicate (or kills) the notion of being more co-operative with a government that appears to want to meddle in our home politics for whatever reason.
"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"
- Goose
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Re: Sessions did not disclose meetings with Russian ambassador
There needs to be a special prosecutor.
And Sessions should resign. He lied during his confirmation hearing about ties to a hostile power.
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
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Thread Starter- TheLagerLad
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Re: Sessions did not disclose meetings with Russian ambassador
I've always been fairly ambivalent about the stories around direct connections between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives because a lot of it seemed murky and difficult to definitively prove.
But now I am board with a full blown investigation. Sessions is right in saying that as a Senator on the Armed Services Committee would have reasons to talk with the Russian ambassador. But why lie about it to your colleagues in the Senate when it could easily be explained during the confirmation process?
It is now time to demand an independent investigation and I don't think it is unreasonable to call for Sessions to step down.
And for anyone who thinks I'm being partisan here, please go back and read what I said about Hillary and her e-mail server.
I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
- Goose
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Re: Sessions did not disclose meetings with Russian ambassador
Obviously the lying under oath is the major story.
However, I'm not so sure about the explanation that Sessions gave about his role on the armed services committee.
Just how many members of the Senate Armed Services committee met with Russian officials and why?
If they all did, that's one thing. If it was only Sessions, that is another.
Last edited by Goose (3/02/2017 8:57 am)
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
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Thread Starter- tennyson
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Re: Sessions did not disclose meetings with Russian ambassador
TheLagerLad wrote:
I've always been fairly ambivalent about the stories around direct connections between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives because a lot of it seemed murky and difficult to definitively prove.
But now I am board with a full blown investigation. Sessions is right in saying that as a Senator on the Armed Services Committee would have reasons to talk with the Russian ambassador. But why lie about it to your colleagues in the Senate when it could easily be explained during the confirmation process?
It is now time to demand an independent investigation and I don't think it is unreasonable to call for Sessions to step down.
And for anyone who thinks I'm being partisan here, please go back and read what I said about Hillary and her e-mail server.
Exactly.
Either he has horrible judgement or a bad memory (both of which are NOT good thing for an acting AG) OR he is a liar or has something to hide (again NOT good things for an acting AG).
Could it get any worse for the Trump Administration that has already been dogged by this whole issue ???
Last edited by tennyson (3/02/2017 8:49 am)
"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"
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Re: Sessions did not disclose meetings with Russian ambassador
Being appointed Attorney General even magnifies the whole thing. Wasn't it Sessions who 17 or 18 years ago wanted Clinton's head for lying under oath? Double standard was never so obvious.
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Re: Sessions did not disclose meetings with Russian ambassador
I agree with Lager's analysis.
It is understandable for him to meet with the Russian ambassador, but he never should have lied to Congress about it. Time for the Independent investigation and probably for Sessions to step down
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Re: Sessions did not disclose meetings with Russian ambassador
I think people are going off the deep end over this "story".
In the context that the question was asked I think he gave a truthful answer.
Why would Sessions purposely lie about a meeting that occurred in a Senate office?
Something does not add up. More information will come out shortly.
Philip BumpVerified account @pbump 6h6 hours agoPut together a timeline on what Sessions did and said, and am now thinking that Dems are overplaying their hand
Philip BumpVerified account @pbump 3h3 hours agoI’m starting to think that a lot of perceptions of the facts in the Russia-Trump question are colored by partisanship.
hilip BumpVerified account @pbump 2h2 hours agoTalked to two former federal prosecutors: Sessions won't face perjury charges based on the evidence at hand.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,” former vice president Biden said during a campaign event in Texas on Monday. "All men and women created by — you know, you know, the thing.”