Chicago Tribune-
Then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., spoke twice last year with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Justice Department officials said, encounters he did not disclose when asked about possible contacts between members of President Donald Trump‘s campaign and representatives of Moscow during Sessions’s confirmation hearing to become attorney general.
One of the meetings was a private conversation between Sessions and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that took place in September in the senator’s office, at the height of what U.S. intelligence officials say was a Russian cyber campaign to upend the U.S. presidential race.
The previously undisclosed discussions could fuel new congressional calls for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Russia’s alleged role in the 2016 presidential election. As attorney general, Sessions oversees the Justice Department and the FBI, which have been leading investigations into Russian meddling and any links to Trump’s associates. He has so far resisted calls to recuse himself.
When Sessions spoke with Kislyak in July and September, the senator was a senior member of the influential Armed Services Committee as well as one of Trump’s top foreign policy advisers. Sessions played a prominent role supporting Trump on the stump after formally joining the campaign in February 2016.
At his Jan. 10 Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Sessions was asked by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., what he would do if he learned of any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of the 2016 campaign.
“I’m not aware of any of those activities,” he responded. He added: “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.”
Officials said Sessions did not consider the conversations relevant to the lawmakers’ questions and did not remember in detail what he discussed with Kislyak.
“There was absolutely nothing misleading about his answer,” said Sarah Isgur Flores, Sessions’s spokeswoman.
I understand Mike Pence has been asking for Russian dressing on his salads, lately.
The left wants an inquiry.
ht/ all too much
” the senator was a senior member of the influential Armed Services Committee ”
Ohhh okay, so as a person in the armed services committee who has to deal with the nation’s defense and other things, he isn’t supposed to talk to any ambassador about terrorism, ISIS or something else?
If Putin wanted 0bama and hillary gone, why didn’t he just get rid of them in the first 3 years? Even more important, why wouldn’t he WANT hillary in office? She bends over backwards for cash. *see Uranium deal. She has so much to hide, he could have blackmailed her the entire term as president.
The Russian influence angle is bullshit. It wouldn’t have been helping Trump, it would be more favorable for them to help hillary or bernie.
Oh my God this shite never ends. Even though their games are clear at this point, I still watched the relevant part of his hearing. He was obviously talking about when he was a surrogate for the campaign. As the world turns. Another media cycle to swat down.
Keep blowing your horn, Democrats. Eventually, no one will notice you anymore. Your horn will be like a freight train passing in the night. Background noise.
Spelling errors in bold faced type drive me crazy.
MSNBC has been covering this story non-stop all morning.
“So is it true, as we’ve heard from un-named sources, that at dinner last night, you ordered a White Russian?”