Sessions denies misleading congress on Russia probe News
Sessions denies misleading congress on Russia probe

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified on Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee [official websites], denying claims that he had misled Congress during his previous testimonies [JURIST report] regarding ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.

In Sessions’ last visit to Capital Hill, he had stated that he did not believe anyone from the Trump campaign had been in communication with Russian officials, was not aware of anyone else that did and did not think that it had happened. Since then, former Trump foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to making false statements to FBI investigators on the Russian probe, admitted to special counsel Robert Mueller that he had boasted about having ties to Russia and being able introduce Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting in which Sessions was present.

In response to questions about the seeming inconsistency of his prior statement with the facts, Sessions claimed to have not remembered explaining that

After reading Papadopoulos’ account, and to the best of my recollection, I believe that I wanted to make clear to him that he was not authorized to represent the campaign with the Russian government, or any other foreign government, for that matter. But I did not recall this event, which occurred 18 months before my testimony of a few weeks ago, and would gladly have reported it had I remembered it, because I pushed back against his suggestion.

Sessions opened up proceedings with a statement flatly denying any accusation or insinuation that his testimonies to Congress have been anything but honest, “I have always told the truth, and I have answered every question as I understood them and to the best of my recollection, as I will continue to do today, I will not accept and reject accusations that I have ever lied under oath. That is a lie.”