Top US law official under fire over Russia
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AMERICA’S Attorney General Jeff Sessions talked twice with Russia’s ambassador to the United States during the presidential campaign, the US Justice Department confirmed — communications that spurred calls for him to be declared unqualified to perform legal duties from an investigation into Russian interference in the US election.
Sessions, an early supporter of President Donald Trump’s candidacy and a policy adviser to the Republican leader, did not disclose those discussions at his Senate confirmation hearing in January when asked what he would do if “anyone affiliated” with the campaign had been in contact with officials of the Russian government.
Sessions replied that he had not had communications with the Russians.
In a statement on Wednesday, Sessions said, “I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.”
Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said on Wednesday night that “there was absolutely nothing misleading about his answer.”
That statement did not satisfy Democrats, who even before Wednesday had sought his rejection from the ongoing federal investigation and had raised questions about whether he could properly oversee the probe.
Sessions said yesterday “I have said that, when it’s appropriate, I will recuse myself.”
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders earlier called the disclosure of the talks with the ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, “the latest attack against the Trump administration by partisan Democrats.” She said Sessions “met with the ambassador in an official capacity as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is entirely consistent with his testimony.”
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi accused Sessions of “lying under oath” and demanded that he resign. Other Democrats called on him to step aside from the investigation.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said if a question arose about the integrity of a federal investigation, “I think it’d be easier” for an attorney general to step away from the probe.
Sessions had more than 25 conversations with foreign ambassadors last year in his role as a US senator and senior member of the Armed Services Committee, and had two separate interactions with Kislyak, the department confirmed.
One was a visit in September in his capacity as a senator, similar to meetings with envoys from Britain, China, Germany and other nations, the department said.
The other occurred in a group setting following a Heritage Foundation speech that Sessions gave during the summer, when several ambassadors — including the Russian ambassador — approached Sessions after the talk as he was leaving the stage.
Revelations of the contacts, first reported by The Washington Post, came amid a disclosure by three administration officials that White House lawyers have instructed aides to Trump to preserve materials that could be connected to Russian meddling in the American political process.
The officials who confirmed that staff were instructed to comply with preservation-of-materials directions did so on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly disclose the memo from White House counsel Don McGahn.
On the Sessions revelation, Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said: “If reports are accurate that Attorney General Sessions — a prominent surrogate for Donald Trump — met with Ambassador Kislyak during the campaign, and failed to disclose this fact during his confirmation, it is essential that he recuse himself from any role in the investigation of Trump campaign ties to the Russians.”
Asked by reporters on Monday about the prospect of a recusal, Sessions had said, “I would recuse myself from anything that I should recuse myself on.”
At the confirmation hearing in January, Sessions was asked about allegations of contact between Russia and Trump aides during the 2016 election and replied he was “unaware of those activities.”
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