Pelosi calls on Sessions to resign for Russian contacts
House minority leader Nancy Pelosi has called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign because he failed to disclose two conversations that Sessions had with the Russian ambassador while he was serving as senator.
The Washington Post reported that Sessions met with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, once in July and once in September.
"Sessions is not fit to serve as the top law enforcement officer of our country and must resign," she said in a statement.
In a statement posted on Twitter later by his spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores, Sessions said he had never discussed campaign details with any Russian officials.
"I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false," Sessions said in the statement.
Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was fired last month after he discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with Kislyak before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations.
The Washington Post said one of Sessions' meetings was a private conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak that took place in the senator's office in September.
This came at the height of what U.S. intelligence officials say was a Russian cyber campaign to upend the U.S. presidential race, the Post reported.
Along with Pelosi's call for Sessions to resign, the Post said the previously undisclosed discussions could fuel new congressional calls for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Russia's alleged role in the 2016 presidential election.
As attorney general, Sessions oversees the Justice Department, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which have been leading investigations into Russian meddling and any links to Trump's associates.
Sessions has so far resisted calls to recuse himself.
When Sessions spoke with Kislyak in July and September, he was a senior member of the influential Senate Armed Services Committee as well as one of Trump’s top foreign policy advisers, according to the Post.
Sessions played a prominent role supporting Trump after formally joining the campaign in February 2016.
At his Jan. 10 Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Sessions was asked by Democratic Senator Al Franken what he would do if he learned of any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of the 2016 campaign, the Post reported.
"I’m not aware of any of those activities," Sessions responded, according to the Post. He added: "I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians."
Officials said Sessions did not consider the conversations relevant to the lawmakers’ questions and did not remember in detail what he discussed with Kislyak, according to the Post.
"There was absolutely nothing misleading about his answer," Flores earlier told the Post.
Not that this makes much of a difference when you're trying to smear the attorney general of the United States.
Buried at the end of the Reuters story is this little nugget of info:
Justice officials said Sessions met Kislyak on Sept. 8 in his capacity as a member of the armed services panel rather than in his role as a Trump campaign surrogate, the Post reported.
"He was asked during the hearing about communications between Russia and the Trump campaign - not about meetings he took as a senator and a member of the Armed Services Committee," Flores told the Post.
The Democrats are perfectly content to hint, to suggest, and to intimate that Trump is a traitor - they just refuse to be honest about it and come out and say it.
Pelosi and other leading Democrats know full well that accusing Trump of treason outright will not only show them to be paranoid idiots, but also expose their smear campaign for what it is: an underhanded attempt to destroy Trump's credibility. The smear against Sessions is typical. I can think of a dozen reasons why the chairman of the Armed Services Committee would meet with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. having nothing to do with presidential politics. There are also several reasons why Sessions, as an individual senator would meet with Kislyak.
The Democrats are allowing the radical leftist crazies in their base to accuse Trump of treason while they innocently claim to be only seeking answers to "questions." It's a despicable tactic and the Republicans should call them out on it. They should demand that Democrats deny they are accusing the president of treason or offer some proof for this incredibly serious charge. As it is, the suggestion of treason is floating around with a willing and eager media feeding the public's suspicions.