Tag: AG Sessions

Jeff Sessions reportedly orders review of debunked Hillary Clinton claims, violating recusal vow

The following article by Josh Israel was posted on the ThinkProgress website December 21, 2017:

Not exactly ‘fair and impartial administration of justice.’

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions

For weeks, critics of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Trump administration have pushed a widely debunked conspiracy theory that she sold 20 percent of America’s uranium to Russia in exchange for a large donation to the Clinton Foundation.

On Thursday, NBC News reported that, on orders from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Department of Justice’s prosecutors “have begun asking FBI agents to explain the evidence they found in a now-dormant criminal investigation into a controversial uranium deal that critics have linked to Bill and Hillary Clinton.” Continue reading “Jeff Sessions reportedly orders review of debunked Hillary Clinton claims, violating recusal vow”

Mueller requested DOJ hand over documents related to Comey firing: report

The following article by Olivia Beavers was posted on the Hill website November 19, 2017:

© Getty Images

Special counsel Robert Mueller asked the Justice Department within the past month to turn over a wide array of documents as part of its ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, ABC News reported Sunday.

His team is particularly interested in materials that relate to Trump’s dismissal of former FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions‘s decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe earlier this year, a source who was told about the request informed ABC News. Continue reading “Mueller requested DOJ hand over documents related to Comey firing: report”

Jeff Sessions Yuks It Up Over Russians In Speech To Lawyers

The following article by Mary Papenfuss was posted on the Huffington Post website November 18, 2017:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions had lawyers rolling in the aisles with a surprising string of Russian quips at the start of a speech he gave Friday.

Sessions was the keynote speaker at the National Lawyers Convention at Washington’s Mayflower Hotel hosted by the conservative Federalist Society. Continue reading “Jeff Sessions Yuks It Up Over Russians In Speech To Lawyers”

Sessions again changes his account of what he knew about Trump campaign’s dealings with Russians

The following article by Matt Zapotosky and Sari Horwitz was posted on the Washington Post website November 14, 2017:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions answered questions about Russia, President Trump and Roy Moore at the House Judiciary committee hearing Nov. 14. (Photo: Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday again revised his account of what he knew about the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russians, acknowledging for the first time that he recalled a meeting where a foreign policy adviser mentioned having contacts who could possibly broker a meeting between then-candidate Donald Trump and Russian President Vladi­mir Putin.

Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, Sessions said he now remembered adviser George Papadopoulos saying in March 2016 that he knew people who might be able to help arrange a Trump-Putin meeting. Continue reading “Sessions again changes his account of what he knew about Trump campaign’s dealings with Russians”

Four key takeaways from Jeff Sessions’s memory-lapse-filled congressional hearing

The following article by Amber Phillips was posed on the Washington Post website November 14, 2017:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions raises his hand to be sworn in before the House Judiciary Committee. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

Meetings he had with the Russian ambassador during the campaign. Campaign-related conversations he had with the Russian ambassador. Shutting down campaign aide George Papadopoulos after Papadopoulos suggested then-candidate Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin get together.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he couldn’t remember any of these events — that is until the media or Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation remembered them for him.

That’s the key takeaway from Sessions’s hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. What is typically a routine check-in between Congress and the head of the Justice Department got political real fast, largely because of Russia. Continue reading “Four key takeaways from Jeff Sessions’s memory-lapse-filled congressional hearing”

Sessions says he ‘always told the truth’ in describing Russia contacts

The following article by Matt Zapotosky and Sari Horwitz was posted on the Washington Post website November 14, 2017:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke before the House Judiciary Committee Nov. 14. (Reuters)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday that he has “always told the truth” in describing his knowledge of Trump campaign contacts with Russians, although he acknowledged that he now recalls an interaction with a lower-level adviser to Donald Trump who said he told Sessions about contacts who could help arrange a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladi­mir Putin.

When asked previously about whether he thought that surrogates from the Trump campaign had communications with the Russians, Sessions said, “I did not, and I’m not aware of anyone else that did, and I don’t believe it happened.” Continue reading “Sessions says he ‘always told the truth’ in describing Russia contacts”

Trump adviser sent email describing ‘private conversation’ with Russian official

The following article by Rosalind S. Helderman, Matt Zapotosky and Karoun Demirjian was posted on the Washington Post website November 7, 2017:

The FBI obtained a secret court order to monitor communications from former Trump adviser Carter Page in summer 2016, according to law enforcement and intelligence officials. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to President Trump’s campaign whose visit to Moscow during the election has drawn scrutiny, sent an email to fellow Trump aides during his trip describing “a private conversation” with a senior Russian official who spoke favorably of the Republican candidate, according to records released late Monday by congressional investigators.

Page also wrote that he had been provided “incredible insights and outreach” by Russian lawmakers and “senior members” of Russian President Vladi­mir Putin’s administration during the trip. Continue reading “Trump adviser sent email describing ‘private conversation’ with Russian official”

Hits from Dems and Trump put Sessions in familiar hot seat

The following article by Zeke Miller and Sadie Gurman of the Associated Press was psoted on the Star Tribune website November 3, 2017:

Pres Trump answers questions from the media before departing the White House Friday for a trip to Asia. Credit: OLIVIER DOULIERY, TNS

WASHINGTON — The nation’s chief law enforcement officer found himself in a familiar spot Friday: belittled by the president, pressured to investigate political opponents and sucked back into the center of the storm around the investigation into the Trump administration’s campaign ties to Russia.

In President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, Attorney General Jeff Sessions appears to be perpetually in the hot seat, yet he has made clear he’s not going anywhere. In an administration where top aides serve at the president’s displeasure, the former Alabama senator has shown he is more than willing to absorb the blows.

Trump paused to hit Sessions with yet another indignity just before he left the White House for a 12-day Asia trip increasingly colored by his domestic political troubles. Asked if he would fire the attorney general if he doesn’t investigate his Democratic political rivals, Trump said, “I don’t know.” He continued to vent his frustration with the top prosecutor. Continue reading “Hits from Dems and Trump put Sessions in familiar hot seat”

Franken to Sessions: American public cannot trust your word

The following article by Jennifer Brooks was posted on the Star Tribune website November 2, 2017:

Minnesota Democrat calls on the attorney general to give full accounting of the Trump campaign’s contact with Russia.

WASHINGTON – Sen. Al Franken has some questions about Russia for Attorney General Jeff Sessions — about eight pages’ worth.

Franken fired off a lengthy letter to Sessions on Thursday, asking him to give his own account of interactions between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. It followed the guilty plea earlier this week by a former Trump foreign policy adviser on charges of lying to federal agents about his contact with Russians. Continue reading “Franken to Sessions: American public cannot trust your word”

Trump Chooses Sessions, Longtime Foe of DACA, to Announce Its Demise

The following article by Matt Apuzzo and rebecca R. Ruiz was posted on the New York Times website September 5, 2017:

WASHINGTON — As an up-and-coming politician in Alabama, Jeff Sessions watched as his state’s poultry industry illegally hired Mexican and Central American immigrants to jobs that had once been filled by poor, unskilled American workers. As a senator, Mr. Sessions argued that displaced American workers like these — not the people replacing them — deserved compassion.

So when President Trump chose Mr. Sessions, now the attorney general, to announce on Tuesday the end of an Obama-era immigration program that shielded young immigrants from deportation, there was no doubt what message he would deliver. Mr. Trump has expressed conflicting emotions about those who were brought to the country as children, but Mr. Sessions expressed no such qualms. Continue reading “Trump Chooses Sessions, Longtime Foe of DACA, to Announce Its Demise”