WATCH: Here’s The Exchange Where Sessions Denied Meeting With Russians

Attorney General-designate, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., testifies on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017 in Washington, before the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearing. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Attorney General-designate, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., testifies on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017 in Washington, before the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearing. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions denied during his Senate confirmation hearing in January that he had “communications with Russians.” On Thursday, however, his spokeswoman confirmed that Sessions met twice with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak before the election.

“If there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do?” Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) asked.

“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 did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on that,” Sessions, at the time a senator and Trump’s nominee for attorney general, replied.

Sessions also denied a written question asking if he had discussed the 2016 election with any Russian officials during the campaign, as noted by the Washington Post, which first broke the news of his contact with Kislyak.

In a statement released Wednesday, Sessions denied that he discussed “issues of the campaign” with Kislyak.

“I have no idea what this allegation is about,” he said. “It is false.”

Following the report, Democrats reiterated their calls for an independent investigation into any ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and began to call for Sessions to resign as attorney general.

House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) said Sessions should recuse himself from investigations related to Russia in the wake of the revelation.

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Notable Replies

  1. Everyone do the Perjury Dance!!!

  2. Trump: Nothing will happen. I control everything and Putin has my back. If you dont behave I will take away your healthcare, social security, medicare, food, water, air and increase your taxes.

  3. Avatar for fess fess says:

    “I did not have communications with the Russians…”

    Interesting response in that 1) turns out that’s a big lie 2) it’s not responsive to the question Franken actually asked. Franken asked what would Sessions do if there was evidence that others had communicated with the Russians. My guess is that Sessions prepared this lie ahead of time and when asked a question sort of like the one he was expecting about his own activities, he rolled out the prepared response - the lie.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

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