Sessions stands behind his Russia story
But he says he now recalls meeting former Trump aide Papadopoulos
WASHINGTON – Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended himself fiercely Tuesday from any suggestion that he has lied in his testimony before Congress about his knowledge of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.
“I will not accept — and reject — accusations that I have ever lied,” Sessions testified under oath before the House Judiciary Committee. “That is a lie.”
Sessions added: “I have at all times conducted myself honorably . ... I’ve always told the truth.”
Sessions’ testimony at the House hearing was his first appearance before Congress since two former Trump campaign advisers testified they told Sessions about their contacts with Russia. Those revelations — from former advisers George Papadopoulos and Carter Page — appeared to contradict previous testimony Sessions gave to the Senate.
Sessions said Tuesday that he did not recall talking to Page last year about Page’s planned trip to Moscow and remembered a March 2016 meeting with Papadopoulos only after seeing news reports about it. He said he made it clear to Papadopoulos that his suggestion that he arrange a meeting between then-candidate Donald Trump and Russian officials “may have been improper.”
On Oct. 18, Sessions told the Senate Judiciary Committee he had no knowledge of any contacts between Trump campaign advisers and Russians with ties to the Kremlin.
“I did not, and I’m not aware of anyone else that did,” Sessions told the Senate panel. “I don’t believe that happened.”
But Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading a criminal investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race, later unsealed documents revealing that Papadopoulos admitted to the FBI he attended a national security meeting in March 2016 with candidate Trump, Sessions and other advisers.
At that meeting, which Sessions chaired, Papadopoulos told the group he had connections that could help arrange a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. No such meeting ever took place, Trump campaign officials have said.
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in October to making false statements and “material omissions” to the FBI about communications he had with allies of the Russian government, according to a court document unsealed by Mueller.
“I had no recollection of this meeting with Mr. Papadopoulos until I saw news reports,” Sessions said Tuesday. “I do now recall the meeting at Trump Tower.”
Sessions said he could not recall what Papadopoulos said. Sessions said, however, that he “believes I made clear to him” that he should not represent the campaign to the Russians or anyone else.
“I pushed back against his suggestion (of arranging a meeting between Trump and Russian officials) that I thought may have been improper,” Sessions said.
In response to a question from Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., Sessions said he is “confident” he never exchanged texts or emails with Papadopoulos during the campaign.
The attorney general said it’s difficult for him to recall details from a year ago in part because the Trump campaign was so chaotic.
“It was a brilliant campaign in many ways, but it was a form of chaos,” he testified, noting that he was still doing his job as a senator while advising the campaign. “Sleep was in short supply.”
Last week, the House Intelligence Committee released a transcript of its closed-door interview with Page in which the former Trump adviser said he told then-senator Sessions that he was traveling to Moscow to give a speech at the New Economic School.
“I mentioned it briefly to Senator Sessions as I was walking out the door (of the Capitol Hill Club for Republicans),” Page testified. “I forget the exact date, but it was the Thursday night before I flew to Moscow to give my speech. So I mentioned it to him in passing.”
It was on that trip that Page met with Russian deputy prime minster Arkadiy Dvorkovich and several Russian lawmakers, according to the transcript.
Sessions said Tuesday that, in regard to Page, “while I do not challenge his account, I have no recollection” of speaking with him at the Capitol Hill Club.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., asked Sessions: “He told you he was going to Russia. He was on the (Trump campaign’s) national security team. You didn’t tell him not to go?”
Sessions replied, “Am I supposed to tell him not to go on a trip?
“Mr. Page said that after the meeting was over, he said he was going to Russia and I had no response,” Sessions said. “I don’t think that means I’ve done anything dishonest.”
After a similar question from Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Sessions reacted angrily.
“Does that (conversation with Page) establish some sort of improper contact with Russians?” Sessions snapped. “He’s not Russian, you know.”
Democrats in both the House and Senate say they are troubled by inconsistencies between what Sessions has told them and the testimony of Page and Papadopoulos, even though that testimony does not prove that Sessions was involved in any collusion with Russians.
“Over the past 10 months, the attorney general has testified before the Senate on three occasions about his knowledge of and contacts with Russian operatives,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, DVt., said in a speech on the Senate floor Monday. “But he still has not gotten his story straight . ... This is a problem.”
Sessions’ problems with his former colleagues in Congress began at his confirmation hearing in January when the former Alabama senator failed to mention at least two contacts he had with the Russian ambassador while he was advising Trump’s campaign.
When those contacts were later disclosed, Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation and appointed Mueller to lead the inquiry — a move that angered Trump.
While Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee pressed Sessions on the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia, several Republican members said before the hearing that Sessions should resign unless he appoints a special counsel to investigate key figures in the Obama administration related to the closure of the email investigation that dogged Trump’s rival, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
In Tuesday’s hearing, Sessions said he could not confirm or deny that any investigations have been opened into Obama administration activities or actions taken by Clinton.