Sources Reportedly Contradict Sessions Testimony That He Opposed Russia Meeting During Campaign
Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified before Congress last November that when former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos proposed a meeting with Russians during the 2016 election, he “pushed back” on the idea.
But now, according to three sources who told Reuters they were present at the March 2016 meeting chaired by Sessions (who then was head of the Trump campaign’s foreign policy team) where Papadopoulos made the proposal, Sessions didn’t actually voice objections.
“Yes, I pushed back,” Sessions told the House Judiciary Committee on Nov. 14, when asked whether he shut down Papadopoulos’ proposed outreach to Russia. Sessions has since also been interviewed by Mueller.
Three people who attended the March campaign meeting told Reuters they gave their version of events to FBI agents or congressional investigators probing Russian interference in the 2016 election. Although the accounts they provided to Reuters differed in certain respects, all threes, who declined to be identified, said Sessions had expressed no objections to Papadopoulos’ idea.
Reuters noted that the Trump campaign’s director of national security, J.D. Gordon, said at the time of Sessions’ testimony before congress that he strongly opposed the proposal.
Sessions found himself ensnared in the ongoing Russia investigation back when it was revealed he failed to disclose multiple meetings he had with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak during the 2016 election. The attorney general recused himself from any investigations involving Trump in March 2017, because of his involvement with the president’s campaign.
Watch an MSNBC report on Sessions claiming he rejected the Papadopoulos proposal above.
[image via screengrab]
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