Did The Attorney General Commit Perjury?

During his confirmation hearing, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was asked, under oath, if he had had any communications with Russian officials before the election. He was asked this twice, both in oral testimony and in a written deposition. He said “No.” Now we know that he had communications with the Russian ambassador. Twice. One of the conversations was an inconsequential chat at a conference, and the other was a meeting in his office.

Sessions has now recused himself from any investigations of Russian involvement with the Trump campaign. He denies that he did anything wrong. But doesn’t this constitute perjury?

Democrats are saying so, but this doesn’t mean they are wrong. Sessions himself accused Bill Clinton of perjury for lying under oath. Now there are calls for a special prosecutor to get to the bottom of all of these Russia connections.

The White House is calling this a “witch hunt.” There are certainly concerns about how this information about meetings with Russians is leaking, apparently from FBI or CIA investigators. Some say the “Deep State” trying to take down our elected government. Others say that we may be seeing patriotic Cold Warriors worried about our government being infiltrated by their old adversary.

But there is nothing wrong with a member of Congress–especially the chairman of a committee that deals with related issues–from speaking with ambassadors from other countries, including the Russian ambassador. Democratic lawmakers, including some of Sessions’ biggest critics now, have spoken with the Russian ambassador. There is no evidence being offered that Sessions was colluding with the Russians to get Trump elected. The talks were probably completely innocent. The Democrats are obviously playing politics, trying to discredit the Trump administration. But still, Sessions should not have said that he had no communications with the Russians.

Sessions said that he wasn’t committing perjury because his meetings with the Ambassador were in connection with his role as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, not his role in the Trump campaign. But surely he could have explained that when he was under oath instead of flatly denying any communications. He may have been wearing two hats, but he isn’t two people.

And yet perjury is very hard to prove, requiring “willful” deception, something easy to deny. Conservatives from Fox News to the Trump-skeptical National Review are denying that Sessions committed perjury. (Mostly they are saying that his contacts were innocent and that he could never be convicted of perjury, neither of which addresses lying under oath.) I just wish they could be more convincing.

From Session Steps Aside from Russia Probe under Pressure, Associated Press:

Under intensifying pressure, Attorney General Jeff Sessions abruptly agreed Thursday to recuse himself from any investigation into Russian meddling in America’s 2016 presidential election. He acted after revelations he twice spoke with the Russian ambassador during the campaign and failed to say so when pressed by Congress.

Sessions rejected any suggestion that he had tried to mislead anyone about his contacts with the Russian, saying, “That is not my intent. That is not correct.”

But he did allow that he should have been more careful in his testimony during his confirmation hearing, saying, “I should have slowed down and said, ‘But I did meet one Russian official a couple of times.'”

The White House has stood by Sessions in the latest controversy to dog President Donald Trump’s young administration, though officials say they first learned about his contacts with the ambassador from a reporter Wednesday night. Trump himself said Thursday he had “total” confidence in Sessions and didn’t think he needed to recuse himself — not long before he did.

One of Sessions’ conversations with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak occurred at a July event on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. At that same event, the ambassador also spoke with Carter Page, who briefly advised Trump’s campaign on foreign policy, according to a person with knowledge of the discussion.

Separately, a White House official said Thursday that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn met with Kislyak at Trump Tower in New York in December. The official described that sit-down as a brief courtesy meeting.

Flynn was fired last month for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Kislyak.

[Keep reading. . .]

From Jeff Sessions recusal: What’s next? – CNNPolitics.com:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday he will recuse himself from any existing or future investigations related to President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign amid an ever-growing chorus of demands for him to step aside.

Details emerged late Wednesday that Sessions had met with a Russian diplomat last year and he failed to disclose those meetings during his Senate confirmation process, adding to the concerns about his impartiality on any investigation into alleged ties between surrogates for Trump’s campaign and Russians.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday that Sessions’ acting deputy attorney general, Dana Boente, should appoint a special prosecutor to oversee the investigation.

[Keep reading. . .]

Photo of Jeff Sessions being sworn in at his confirmation hearing by Office of the President-elect – https://greatagain.gov/sessions-highlights-6819d2478fc5#.ow7rot78y, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54942926