Jeff Sessions Lied Under Oath About Russia Contacts
Testifying before Senate judiciary committee this week, Jeff Sessions admitted under oath that he lied.
Senator Al Franken nailed the extreme rightwing attorney general for his constantly evolving explanation of his communications with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign:
Not being able to recall what you discussed with [Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak] is very different than saying, ‘I have not had communications with the Russians. The ambassador from Russia is Russian. And how your responses morphed from, ‘I did not have communications with the Russians’ to ‘I did not discuss substantive, I did not discuss the political campaign’ and then finally going to, ‘I did not discuss interference in the election.’ That, to me, is moving the goal posts every time. … By the end, we’re going to a 75-yard field goal.
Stumbling, the best that Sessions could offer was “give me a break.”
As legal scholar Seth Abramson points out, Sessions’ changing narrative on his communications with the Russian ambassador during the campaign amounts to a very significant development.
BREAKING: Sessions admits under oath he discussed Trump's Russia policy in a long-undisclosed—lied about—September '16 meeting with Kislyak.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) October 18, 2017
Throughout Abramson’s Twitter thread about Sessions’ testimony, he clearly lays out how Sessions – now admitting that he discussed policy with the Russian ambassador – has cornered himself on collusion charges. His meeting with the Russian diplomat occurred after Trump had learned about Russian meddling with the election.
6/ 3 weeks after Trump knew Russia was committing crimes, he had his NatSec chief negotiate sanctions relief with Russia. That IS collusion.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) October 18, 2017
While the media has been slow to pick up on this revelation, it is now out there on the public record. How many people in Trump world will go down as a result of the Russia investigation remains to be seen. It could certainly be a lot.
Read Abramson’s entire thread here.