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

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royalan said:
The NYT article makes it clear that what's being reported tonight is not all new cable.

You might have a point if we narrow it down specifically to the WP post article. But I don't believe the WP's report is all that divested from the story NYT is chasing.
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The problem with this is that Sessions wasnt named AG till after the inauguration, therefore no congressional oath for confirmation and no lie to act on. Before he earned his appointment from Trump he was nothing more than a shady senator with ties to the Trump campaign.
 
Nothing will come of this, but I sure wish it would. Sessions is terrible on criminal justice. Who would we be looking at for a replacement, Rudy? Ugh.
 
royalan said:
...and yet, everyone and there mothers are calling for an independent investigation tonight based on intelligence that the Obama administration already had.
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The issue here is Sessions's blatant perjury, isn't it? That he met with Kislyak in private is unusual, but not criminal. In the context of the election it's troubling and calls for investigation (which was ongoing), but again not something immediately actionable. It's his denial after being pointedly asked about any such meeting that makes this damning, though. Without that exchange between Sessions and Franken this is not a story, and no one would be calling for his resignation. Regardless of when the prior administration knew of Sessions contact with Kislyak, this intelligence wasn't fully weaponized until Sessions himself denied it. He primed what will hopefully become his own political suicide vest.


Edit:

rambis said:
The problem with this is that Sessions wasnt named AG till after the inauguration, therefore no congressional oath for confirmation and no lie to act on.
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Yeah, more or less what I was getting at.
 
Sessions is bigger crony than Flynn. I doubt anything will happen as to me it seems Sessions will be protected more so. Its the GOP's ace card and they dont want to lose him.

Best of luck to Dems to try and do something and hope the media can blast this shit.
 
Aaronology said:
The issue here is Sessions's blatant perjury, isn't it? That he met with Kislyak in private is unusual, but not criminal. In the context of the election it's troubling and calls for investigation (which was ongoing), but again not something immediately actionable. It's his denial after being pointedly asked about any such meeting that makes this damning, though. Without that exchange between Sessions and Franken this is not a story, and no one would be calling for his resignation. Regardless of when the prior administration knew of Sessions contact with Kislyak, this intelligence wasn't fully weaponized until Sessions himself denied it. He primed what will hopefully become his own political suicide vest.
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Yes, as cliched as it is, its the coverup. The crime had plausible deniability.
 
Pocks said:
Nothing will come of this, but I sure wish it would. Sessions is terrible on criminal justice. Who would we be looking at for a replacement, Rudy? Ugh.
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At a minimum he will recuse himself from the investigation. I think it's likely he resigns before the end of the week.
 
Aaronology said:
The issue here is Sessions's blatant perjury, isn't it? That he met with Kislyak in private is unusual, but not criminal. In the context of the election it's troubling and calls for investigation (which was ongoing), but again not something immediately actionable. It's his denial after being pointedly asked about any such meeting that makes this damning, though. Without that exchange between Sessions and Franken this is not a story, and no one would be calling for his resignation. Regardless of when the prior administration knew of Sessions contact with Kislyak, this intelligence wasn't fully weaponized until Sessions himself denied it. He primed what will hopefully become his own political suicide vest.
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The issue is still Russian ties to the Trump campaign.... but yes, the perjury is what should ensure that a) there should be an investigation and b) Sessions won't be leading it.

Definitely hope it leads to his resignation, as this is clearly worse than what Flynn did, but who knows on that front...
 
Netherscourge said:
What the hell is up with all these Russian connections?

Does Vladdy have shit on EVERYONE for blackmail or something?
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everyone.gif
 
Netherscourge said:
What the hell is up with all these Russian connections?

Does Vladdy have shit on EVERYONE for blackmail or something?
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Russia funds and supports extremist right wing parties around the world.

Extremist right wing politicians in the US appear to have connections to Russia.

Hmmmmm
 
Netherscourge said:
What the hell is up with all these Russian connections?

Does Vladdy have shit on EVERYONE for blackmail or something?
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It's almost like one of the campaigns running for the head of our military and executive offices was likely in cahoots with them.

Guess we could've investigated that or something, but it'd probably be really awkward.
 
Aaronology said:
The issue here is Sessions's blatant perjury, isn't it? That he met with Kislyak in private is unusual, but not criminal. In the context of the election it's troubling and calls for investigation (which was ongoing), but again not something immediately actionable. It's his denial after being pointedly asked about any such meeting that makes this damning, though. Without that exchange between Sessions and Franken this is not a story, and no one would be calling for his resignation. Regardless of when the prior administration knew of Sessions contact with Kislyak, this intelligence wasn't fully weaponized until Sessions himself denied it. He primed what will hopefully become his own political suicide vest.


Edit:



Yeah, more or less what I was getting at.
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I'm reminded of Paul Manafort.

You're not wrong, but I think the situation is two-fold. Sessions being AG makes this a story. Sessions being yet another person tied to the Trump campaign and communicating with Russia while suspicions of Russia running an operation to effect our election also makes this a story. Sure, Sessions being a Senator gave him a plausible out, but his dual connections would have been news no matter when this dropped.

The one-two punch of both of these things definitely makes this a bigger story, you're right about that. But geez fuck am I not comfortable with it being only a few steps removed from sheer luck that got us here.
 
KHarvey16 said:
At a minimum he will recuse himself from the investigation. I think it's likely he resigns before the end of the week.
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I think it depends on if Trump thinks his "FAKE NEWS" attacks are gaining momentum or not. I can see him not wanting to take another loss after Flynn.
 
Can't wait for all the different explanations and excuses tomorrow.

Also, if you watch the video of the hearing, Al Frakken didn't even directly ask Sessions if he had met with anyone related to Russia, it all came from Sessions himself out of nowhere.
 
AntraxSuicide said:
It's almost like one of the campaigns running for the head of our military and executive offices was likely in cahoots with them.

Guess we could've investigated that or something, but it'd probably be really awkward.
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It has not been lost on me that the RNC was also hacked.

Trump and Co deny that the hack was successful, but I find that hard to believe...
 
It will be hilarious to watch the Trump team try to talk their way out of this one. By their own "rules" and "logic", Sessions should be outed on the same grounds that they claimed in order to fire Flynn. Obviously the GOP and Trump's team will fight harder to keep Sessions around, but the Flynn story just shot them in the foot.
 
So did he actually LIE under oath or did he just not disclose information? Unfortunately there's a big difference there.
 
At his Jan. 10 Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Sessions was asked by Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, 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.”
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KNQNNPi.gif
 
Durden77 said:
So did he actually LIE under oath or did he just not disclose information? Unfortunately there's a big difference there.
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Doesn't matter what the question is, he said this under sworn testimony.

“I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.”

There is no getting around this no matter what he thinks he said, its perjury.
 
What kind of conversations are these guys having where Flynn feels he has to lie to another member of the administration and Sessions thinks his best option is to lie under oath in a Senate hearing.
 
Allard said:
Doesn't matter what the question is, he said this under sworn testimony.

“I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.”

There is no getting around this no matter what he thinks he said, its perjury.
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He also lied in written testimony to Congress.
 
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