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WP: Sessions Met with Russia Twice Last Year, Didn't Disclose During Confirmation

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whyamihere said:
Sessions response:

C54bILGVMAEYsQ-.jpg


Former Obama DOJ staffer responds to response:
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But doesn't this – at least partially – contradict this?

“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.”
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Here's something I'm unsure of: if none of this other Russia puppetry had happened with the Trump campaign, how uncommon would it be for someone like Sessions to meet with foreign ambassadors? I really have no idea what the context is for these interactions, but I'd imagine senators are communicating with ambassadors from a bunch of different countries multiple times throughout the year.

Obviously there is so much smoke here that treason is almost a foregone conclusion, but if this single story existed in a vacuum under an administration that wasn't insane, would the main issue be him not disclosing the ambassador conversations during the hearings?
 
More_Badass said:
So by saying it was just superficial comments, they're basically proving he did have contact
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Yeah. I mean the level of incompetence from their part of hiding the clear violation is just mind boggling. How can you defend him by basically confirming he lied to congress? They were so focused on distancing themselves they forgot what he would prosecuted for just this lie to begin with. Trump's administration is compromised and it's pretty apparent without further proof, but an administration to be able to do these shady thing they have to be smart about it. Trump's administration showed several times over that they are a bunch of idiots. The good news for us is that stupid evil is much easier to stop.
 
If he's so bad at remembering that he spoke with the Russians, how can he be left in charge of such a powerful seat of government? Like how does the "lol he's old" excuse even sound good to anyone?
 
sant said:
This is going to end in impeachment, isn't it?
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If it snowballs it could still end in impeachment.

Or, if it snowballs it could alternatively cost the Trump administration several high-profile appointees and confidantes, weaken the Trump administration's overall leverage, and erode public trust in the GOP enough to make their party's losses more viable.

There's a lot of ways this could damage Trump and the GOP.
 
The conspiracy theories are endless! Maybe Sessions was already compromised before Trump. Their Russian handlers then positioned them together, same with Flynn. Is his whole fucking team;

- Manafort
- Sessions
- Flynn

This whole campaign could of been a Russian fueled presidential run that far exceeded their expectations.

Lastly, if this is as serious as it looks you're going to get a military push from Russia to land grab as much as they can right now before Trump is exposed.

They launch as soon as the most amount of confusion is created. If their inside man is done, then the timetable of what they wanna achieve is shrinking fast.

Holy shit and that isn't even as crazy as the Steele dossier.
 
Cindro said:
Here's something I'm unsure of: if none of this other Russia puppetry had happened with the Trump campaign, how uncommon would it be for someone like Sessions to meet with foreign ambassadors? I really have no idea what the context is for these interactions, but I'd imagine senators are communicating with ambassadors from a bunch of different countries multiple times throughout the year.

Obviously there is so much smoke here that treason is almost a foregone conclusion, but if this single story existed in a vacuum under an administration that wasn't insane, would the main issue be him not disclosing the ambassador conversations during the hearings?
Click to expand...
It's touched on in the article.

The Washington Post contacted all 26 members of the 2016 Senate Armed Services Committee to see whether any lawmakers besides Sessions met with Kislyak in 2016. Of the 20 lawmakers who responded, every senator, including Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), said they did not meet with the Russian ambassador last year. The other lawmakers on the panel did not respond as of Wednesday evening.

“Members of the committee have not been beating a path to Kislyak’s door,” a senior Senate Armed Services Committee staffer said, citing tensions in relations with Moscow. Besides Sessions, the staffer added, “There haven’t been a ton of members who are looking to meet with Kislyak for their committee duties.”

Last month, The Washington Post reported that Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn had discussed U.S. sanctions with Kislyak during the month before Trump took office, contrary to public assertions by Mike Pence, the vice president-elect, and other top Trump officials. Flynn was forced to resign the following week.
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What does it matter? Are they going to do anything? Can they prove it?

If Obama and his apointees did half this shit they would have all been in jail a long time ago.
 
https://www.wsj.com/articles/invest...ns-contacts-with-russian-officials-1488424871



Investigators Probed Jeff Sessions’ Contacts With Russian Officials

WASHINGTON—U.S. investigators have examined contacts Attorney General Jeff Sessions had with Russian officials during the time he was advising Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.

The outcome of the investigation, and whether it is ongoing, wasn’t clear, these people said. The contacts were being examined as part of a wide-ranging U.S. counterintelligence investigation into possible communications between members of President Trump’s campaign team and Russian operatives, they said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which has been leading the investigation, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House directed requests for comment to the Justice Department.

During his confirmation hearing for attorney general in January, Mr. Sessions, a Republican senator from Alabama, testified under oath that he had no contact with Russian officials as a campaign surrogate and never discussed the 2016 election with Russian officials.

But Mr. Sessions spoke with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergei Kislyak, while the Republican National Convention was under way in Cleveland last summer, according to his spokeswoman, Sarah Flores. He also spoke with Mr. Kislyak on another occasion last year, by phone from his Senate office, she said.

Ms. Flores said the contact last July occurred when Mr. Sessions spoke at a Heritage Foundation event attended by Mr. Kislyak in Cleveland, appearing in his capacity as a senator, not a campaign official. She said several ambassadors approached Mr. Sessions after his speech at the Heritage Foundation event, including Mr. Kislyak.

“It was short and informal,” she said.

She said the attorney general wasn’t aware that his communications have been under investigation.

During his confirmation hearing in January, Mr. Sessions was asked what he would do if any evidence emerged that someone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government during campaign and said: “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 didn’t have—did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it,” he said.

Ms. Flores said Mr. Sessions wasn’t required to disclose the contacts because they took place in his capacity as a senator, not a campaign official.

“The attorney general has been very clear that as a senator he had conversations with the Russian ambassador,” Ms. Flores said in a statement. “Last year, the senator had over 25 conversations with foreign ambassadors as a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, including the British, Korean, Japanese, Polish, Indian, Chinese, Canadian, Australian, German and Russian ambassadors.”

The wide-ranging investigation is being pursued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the Treasury Department, officials have said. Counterintelligence probes seldom lead to public accusations or criminal charges.

The probe, if ongoing, could create a highly unusual and sensitive political dynamic given that the FBI is part of the Justice Department that Mr. Session as attorney general, now leads. Mr. Sessions has only been in office for about a month and the investigation began before he was nominated and confirmed by the Senate.
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Cindro said:
Here's something I'm unsure of: if none of this other Russia puppetry had happened with the Trump campaign, how uncommon would it be for someone like Sessions to meet with foreign ambassadors? I really have no idea what the context is for these interactions, but I'd imagine senators are communicating with ambassadors from a bunch of different countries multiple times throughout the year.

Obviously there is so much smoke here that treason is almost a foregone conclusion, but if this single story existed in a vacuum under an administration that wasn't insane, would the main issue be him not disclosing the ambassador conversations during the hearings?
Click to expand...

I think you're missing the forest for the trees. It doesn't matter if he met with foreign ambassadors or whatever.
He lied under oath. That's perjury.
 
sant said:
This is going to end in impeachment, isn't it?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I'm sure there's some sort of technicality we're not seeing that might keep this from taking out everyone like it should. But at least Sessions is not getting out of this.
 
Call me just curious and maybe a bit ignorant, but why would a senator from Alabama be talking and meeting with a Russian ambassador anyway?

I suppose it's probable they met before and were on friendly terms, but I don't know if I would by that.
 
whyamihere said:
omg omgomgomgomg
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Oh come on guys. They didn't talk about anything important. Just two guys having a casual, totally superficial conversation about the election. I mean, yeah, one of the guys works for a government who at the time was working to actively subvert the campaign efforts of the democratic party. And the other guy had a major role in the campaign that was directly benefiting from said subversion.

But you know that stuff wasn't the substance of their conversation. Just superficial comments is all.
 
btrboyev said:
Call me just curious and maybe a bit ignorant, but why would a senator from Alabama be talking and meeting with a Russian ambassador anyway?

I suppose it's probable they met before and were on friendly terms, but I don't know if I would by that.
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They really shouldn't be from what I can gather. But that's really irrelevant regardless since he lied under oath either way
 
btrboyev said:
Call me just curious and maybe a bit ignorant, but why would a senator from Alabama be talking and meeting with a Russian ambassador anyway?

I suppose it's probable they met before and were on friendly terms, but I don't know if I would by that.
Click to expand...
If they were actively working on something to do w/ Russia in the committee it'd be fine.

They weren't.

He met with them because he was part of Trump's campaign.
 
btrboyev said:
Call me just curious and maybe a bit ignorant, but why would a senator from Alabama be talking and meeting with a Russian ambassador anyway?

I suppose it's probable they met before and were on friendly terms, but I don't know if I would by that.
Click to expand...

because they value their self interest over the country. Do you think they will not get anything out of this?
 
Kadin said:
What I want to know is, people like this calling for his resignation, do they have additional proof that we the public don't have, or are they coming to this conclusion based on the news reporting, and nothing more?
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I mean, at this point Sessions has literally admitted to talking to Russia about the election. We literally shouldn't need anymore evidence
 
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