Tag: Jeff Sessions

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In Case You’re Wondering How Sessions Testimony Is Going

This clip pretty much sums up Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee thus far…

I saved the best for last.

Sen. Kamala Harris of California, after watching Sessions refuse to answer questions without any legal basis to refuse, asked him to explain:. I’ll note that Sen. Jon McCain interrupts Sen. Harris during the clip. The only senator interrupted by another senator was the one woman of color on the committee. #ShePersisted

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Attorney General Sessions Suggests He Could Resign Over Tensions With President Trump


 ABC News reports that Attorney General Sessions has apparently suggested he may resign amid the rising tensions with President Trump:

The friction between the two men stems from the attorney general’s abrupt decision in March to recuse himself from anything related to the Russia investigation — a decision the president only learned about minutes before Sessions announced it publicly. Multiple sources say the recusal is one of the top disappointments of his presidency so far and one the president has remained fixated on.

Trump’s anger over the recusal has not diminished with time. Two sources close to the president say he has lashed out repeatedly at the attorney general in private meetings, blaming the recusal for the expansion of the Russia investigation, now overseen by Special Counsel and former FBI Director Robert Mueller.

But sources say the frustration runs both ways, prompting the resignation offer from Sessions.

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News Round-Up: May 18, 2017

(via Instagram)

Some news stories you may have missed:

• It may be Thursday, but no one’s throwing him back – photographer Frank Marando shoots Instastud Nick Sandell for Adon Magazine (above).

• Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn stopped a military plan Turkey opposed before he was fired. But – Flynn didn’t disclose until after he was fired that he received $500,000 from Turkey to represent their interests. #ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmm

• Wing-nut commentator Alex Jones says National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster’s bald head means he’s a “leather daddy” who looks like “he could suck a golf ball through a garden hose.” Homophobic much?

• The United States has denied visas to gay Chechen men who are trying to flee the country in light of the torture and murders of gays in the Russian country.

• Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a surprising statement underlining the Justice Department’s commitment to prosecuting bias-related crimes against transgender individuals. Sessions has had a worrisome history when it comes to LGBT rights and protections.

• Jimmy Kimmel Live takes a cue from School House Rock to musically explain how truth, or the lack of it, works in today’s White House:

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Jeff Sessions: “I Am Amazed That A Judge Sitting On An Island” Can Block Trump Travel Ban

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

CNN is reporting on Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ frustrations with a federal judge in Hawaii who blocked President Trump’s travel ban from Muslim-majority countries.

Sessions shared his thoughts during an appearance on “The Mark Levin Show” Tuesday night.

“We’ve got cases moving in the very, very liberal Ninth Circuit, who, they’ve been hostile to the order,” Sessions said. “We won a case in Virginia recently that was a nicely-written order that just demolished, I thought, all the arguments that some of the other people have been making. We are confident that the President will prevail on appeal and particularly in the Supreme Court, if not the Ninth Circuit. So this is a huge matter. I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the President of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and Constitutional power.”

Last month, a federal judge in Hawaii, Judge Derrick Watson, issued an order that blocked Trump’s ban on travelers from several Muslim-majority countries. The Department of Justice is currently appealing the decision.

The two U.S. Senators from Hawaii didn’t take kindly to the characterization of “an island in the Pacific” by Sessions:

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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AG Jeff Sessions Announces He Will Recuse Himself From Any Investigations Into Russian Involvement In U.S. Elections

After calls from both Republican and Democratic members of Congress, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced he will recuse himself from any Department of Justice investigations looking into Russian interference in the recent 2016 Presidential election.

From Huffington Post:

“I have now decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matter relating in any way to the campaign for president of the United States,” Sessions said at a press conference at the DOJ. “This announcement should not be interpreted as confirmation of the existence of any investigation or suggestive of the scope of any such investigation, because we in the Department of Justice resist confirming or denying the very existence of investigations.”

Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente will step into Sessions’ role for any election-related investigations, Politico’s Eric Geller reported.

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Sessions met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak two times last year. Since then, the attorney general has faced growing bipartisan demands from Congress that he recuse himself from the investigations.

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Dan Rather: “The Fuse Is Lit”

Dan Rather

Legendary newsman Dan Rather took to his Facebook today to announce “the fuse is lit” for what could be a big scandal on the hands of the Trump administration and Republicans regarding the current Jeff Sessions alleged perjury debacle.

Every once in a while in Washington, the fuse is lit for what seems to be a big scandal. Much more rarely does that fuse lead to an explosion of the magnitude we are seeing with Russia and the new Administration, and frankly the Republicans in Congress. How can anybody say, with all this billowing smoke and sights of actual flames, that there is no need to at least independently investigate whether a fire is burning down the very pillars of our democracy?

The pressure is obviously starting to mount as leading Republicans are now calling for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. This comes in the wake of serious and credible evidence reported by a vigilant press that the Attorney General, mind you the top law enforcement man in the United States, perjured himself in testimony to the Senate about meeting the Russian ambassador during the election. Sessions is but the latest person close to President Trump who seems to be ensnared in a story that is more worthy of Hollywood melodrama than the reality of the governance of our country. Democrats are calling for Sessions to resign, and this story could move very quickly.

We are well past the time for any political niceties or benefits of the doubt. We need an independent and thorough investigation of Russia’s meddling in our democracy and its ties to the President and his allies. We don’t know what we don’t know. Perhaps there are perfectly innocuous reasons for why Mr Trump won’t release his tax returns, why he has continued to speak admirably about President Putin and why his aides and advisors seem to be so close to Russia. That’s why we need an investigation. If the air is to be cleared, it needs to be cleared. And if there is deep rot, it needs to be exposed. And quickly.

The press is doing an admirable job. But there is only so much it can do without such things as subpoena powers. Let’s just make this clear. This is about a foreign and hostile power trying to influence our election while being in contact with close aides to the presidential campaign that the Kremlin wanted to win. Furthermore, there are serious questions about Mr Trump’s longstanding ties to Russian money and influence peddlers. We don’t know where this might go, but it isn’t going away.

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Jeff Sessions: “Those Remarks Are Unbelievable To Me”

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, under fire for apparently lying under oath during his confirmation hearings last month regarding any communications with Russian officials, responded to the allegations this morning.

Last month, when asked about communication between the Trump campaign (where he was a surrogate) Sessions said, “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.”

Today his response was more nuanced: “Well I have not met with any Russians at any time to discuss any political campaign. And those remarks are unbelievable to me and are false. I don’t have anything else to say about that.”

Watch below:

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Did Attorney General Jeff Sessions Lie Under Oath?

From the New York Times:

On Wednesday, a Justice Department official confirmed that Mr. Sessions had two conversations with Ambassador Kislyak last year, when he was still a senator, despite testifying at his Jan. 10 confirmation hearing that he had no contact with the Russians. At that hearing, Mr. Sessions was asked what he would do if it turned out to be true that anyone affiliated with the Trump team had communicated with the Russian government in the course of the campaign. He said he was “not aware of any of those activities.”

“I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I didn’t have — did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it,” Mr. Sessions said at the time.

However, Justice officials acknowledged that Mr. Sessions had spoken with Mr. Kislyak twice: once, among a group of ambassadors who approached him at a Heritage Foundation event during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July and, separately, in an office meeting on Sept. 8. The contacts were first reported by The Washington Post.

Sarah Isgur Flores, Mr. Sessions’s spokeswoman, said “there was absolutely nothing misleading about his answer” because he did not communicate with the ambassador in his capacity as a Trump campaign surrogate.

Watch below the moment in question from Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing. It seems to me Sessions clearly denies any “communications with the Russians.” I would think the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. would count among those contacts?

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Senate Confirms Jeff Sessions As Attorney General By Vote Of 52-47

By a narrow vote of 52-47, Jeff Sessions was confirmed today by the U.S. Senate as the next Attorney General.

The vote was along party lines except for Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia who voted with Republicans for confirmation.

Manchin, a blue-dog Democrat from a solid red state, is up for re-election in 2018.

Sessions, still a Senator at the time, voted “present.”