Sessions’ Semantics Lesson: Saying ‘Hoax’ Is A Bridge Too Far But ‘Spying’ Is Fine

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Ex-Attorney General Jeff Sessions is laying down the gauntlet on Trumpworld semantics.

“Hoax…is a strong way to say ‘this is bogus’,” Sessions said at a conference Wednesday that was televised on MSNBC, referring to President Trump’s repeated criticism of the Mueller investigation. “That’s his language and we have gotten used to it,” he added with a shrug.

He’s more on board with Attorney General William Barr’s use of “spying” to describe the FBI’s surveillance activities to suss out if Russians were using the Trump campaign to interfere in the 2016 election.

“I think spying is a perfectly good word,” he said.

Sessions seems to have gotten the memo: “I think spying is a good English word,” said Barr last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Watch here:

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Go climb back under your rock in Alabama. What a slime ball Sessions is.

  2. I think its obvious that there are drafts of the IG report “investigating the investigators” circulating around.

    I just can’t figure out what is going on. Is the “spying” stuff another “no collusion, no obstruction” - like move, designed to create a false frame for an IG report that exonerates the intel community?

    Or is the “spying” stuff based on the IG report conclusions that are being leaked?

  3. Avatar for theod theod says:

    I think racist perjurer are perfectly good English words.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

41 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for jootjoint Avatar for srfromgr Avatar for nowarino Avatar for cervantes Avatar for irasdad Avatar for mickeyg Avatar for inversion Avatar for sniffit Avatar for chelsea530 Avatar for candirue Avatar for leftcoaster Avatar for benthere Avatar for dommyluc Avatar for jacksonhts Avatar for lizzymom Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for paul_lukasiak Avatar for filmknight Avatar for emiliano4 Avatar for anon84323658 Avatar for ANNFFL Avatar for CitizenAlan

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: