Joggin’ Jeff’s hazy memory
Now AG recalls Team Trump Russia talk
Attorney General Jeff Sessions claimed Tuesday that he forgot about a meeting of then-candidate Donald Trump’s national security team in which an adviser pitched a meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, Sessions said he didn’t recall the sitdown in which George Papadopolous broached the topic in Trump’s presence — even though Sessions was the one who put the kibosh on the proposed Putin-Trump tête-à-tête.
“I do now recall the March 2016 meeting at Trump Hotel that Mr. Papadopoulos attended, but I have no clear recollection of the details of what he said at that meeting,” Sessions said.
He angrily denied lying in earlier testimony, where he said he was unaware of any contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Sessions told the committee he now recalls that he “pushed back” against Papadopolous, a former foreign-policy aide who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his own Russia contacts.
“I did not recall this event, which occurred 18 months before my testimony of a few weeks ago, and I would gladly have reported it had I remembered it because I pushed back against his suggestion that I thought may have been improper,” he said.
Sessions blamed his faulty recall on the “chaos” of the Trump campaign — and a lack of sleep.
“It was a brilliant campaign, I think, in many ways, but it was a form of chaos every day from Day One,” he said.
“We traveled sometimes to several places in one day. Sleep was in short supply, and I was still a full-time senator [from Alabama] with a very full schedule.”
Sessions also said he wasn’t entirely sold on appointing a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton’s role in the preparation of a salacious dos- sier on Trump and other issues.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) peppered Sessions with allegations that Clinton, then-FBI Director James Comey and the Democratic Party conspired to undermine Trump, and demanded to know why a special counsel had not been named.
“You can have your ideas, but . . . I would say, ‘ looks like’ is not enough basis to appoint a special counsel,” Sessions responded.