Intercepts: Sessions discussed the campaign with Russian Ambassador in 2016.

[Skroe]

And just when you thought it was safe go see Dunkirk...



https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...e83_story.html

Sessions discussed Trump campaign-related matters with Russian ambassador, U.S. intelligence intercepts show

Russia’s ambassador to Washington told his superiors in Moscow that he discussed campaign-related matters, including policy issues important to Moscow, with Jeff Sessions during the 2016 presidential race, contrary to public assertions by the embattled attorney general, according to current and former U.S. officials.

Ambassador Sergey Kislyak’s accounts of two conversations with Sessions — then a top foreign policy adviser to Republican candidate Donald Trump — were intercepted by U.S. spy agencies, which monitor the communications of senior Russian officials both in the United States and in Russia. Sessions initially failed to disclose his contacts with Kislyak and then said that the meetings were not about the Trump campaign.

One U.S. official said that Sessions — who testified that he has no recollection of an April encounter — has provided “misleading” statements that are “contradicted by other evidence.” A former official said that the intelligence indicates that Sessions and Kislyak had “substantive” discussions on matters including Trump’s positions on Russia-related issues and prospects for U.S.-Russia relations in a Trump administration.

Sessions has said repeatedly that he never discussed campaign-related issues with Russian officials and that it was only in his capacity as a U.S. senator that he met with Kislyak.

“I never had meetings with Russian operatives or Russian intermediaries about the Trump campaign,” Sessions said in March when he announced that he would recuse himself from matters relating to the FBI probe of Russian interference in the election and any connections to the Trump campaign.

Current and former U.S. officials said that assertion is at odds with Kislyak’s accounts of conversations during two encounters over the course of the campaign, one in April ahead of Trump’s first major foreign policy speech and another in July on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention.

The apparent discrepancy could pose new problems for Sessions at a time when his position in the administration appears increasingly tenuous.

Trump, in an interview this week, expressed frustration with Sessions’s recusing himself from the Russia probe and indicated that he regretted his decision to make the lawmaker from Alabama the nation’s top law enforcement officer. Trump also faulted Sessions as giving “bad answers” during his confirmation hearing about his Russian contacts during the campaign.

Officials emphasized that the information contradicting Sessions comes from U.S. intelligence on Kislyak’s communications with the Kremlin, and acknowledged that the Russian ambassador could have mischaracterized or exaggerated the nature of his interactions.

“Obviously I cannot comment on the reliability of what anonymous sources describe in a wholly uncorroborated intelligence intercept that the Washington Post has not seen and that has not been provided to me,” said Sarah Isgur Flores, a Justice Department spokeswoman in a statement. She reiterated that Sessions did not discuss interference in the election.

Russian and other foreign diplomats in Washington and elsewhere have been known, at times, to report false or misleading information to bolster their standing with their superiors or to confuse U.S. intelligence agencies.

But U.S. officials with regular access to Russian intelligence reports say Kislyak — whose tenure as ambassador to the United States ended recently — has a reputation for accurately relaying details about his interactions with officials in Washington.

Sessions removed himself from direct involvement in the Russia investigation after it was revealed in The Washington Post that he had met with Kislyak at least twice in 2016, contacts he failed to disclose during his confirmation hearing in January.

“I did not have communications with the Russians,” Sessions said when asked whether anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign had communicated with representatives of the Russian government.

He has since maintained that he misunderstood the scope of the question and that his meetings with Kislyak were strictly in his capacity as a U.S. senator. In a March appearance on Fox television, Sessions said, “I don’t recall any discussion of the campaign in any significant way.”

Sessions appeared to narrow that assertion further in extensive testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee in June, saying that he “never met with or had any conversation with any Russians or foreign officials concerning any type of interference with any campaign or election in the United States.”

But when pressed for details, Sessions qualified many of his answers during that hearing by saying that he could “not recall” or did not have “any recollection.”

A former U.S. official who read the Kislyak reports said that the Russian ambassador reported speaking with Sessions about issues that were central to the campaign, including Trump’s positions on key policy matters of significance to Moscow.

Sessions had a third meeting with Kislyak in his Senate office in September. Officials declined to say whether U.S. intelligence agencies intercepted any Russian communications describing the third encounter.

As a result, the discrepancies center on two earlier Sessions-Kislyak conversations, including one that Sessions has acknowledged took place in July 2016 on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention.

By that point, Russian President Vladimir Putin had decided to embark on a secret campaign to help Trump win the White House by leaking damaging emails about his rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to U.S. intelligence agencies.

Although it remains unclear how involved Kislyak was in the covert Russian campaign to aid Trump, his superiors in Moscow were eager for updates about the candidate’s positions, particularly regarding U.S. sanctions on Russia and long-standing disputes with the Obama administration over conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

Kislyak also reported having a conversation with Sessions in April at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, where then-candidate Trump delivered his first major foreign policy address, according to the officials familiar with intelligence on Kislyak.

Sessions has said he does not remember any encounter with Kislyak at that event. In his June testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sessions said, “I do not recall any conversations with any Russian official at the Mayflower Hotel.”

Later in that hearing, Sessions said that “it’s conceivable that that occurred. I just don’t remember it.”

Kislyak was also a key figure in the departure of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was forced to leave that job after The Post revealed that he had discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with Kislyak even while telling others in the Trump administration that he had not done so.

In that case, however, Flynn’s phone conversations with Kislyak were intercepted by U.S. intelligence, providing irrefutable evidence. The intelligence on Sessions, by contrast, is based on Kislyak’s accounts and not corroborated by other sources.

Former FBI director James B. Comey fueled speculation about the possibility of a Sessions-Kislyak meeting at the Mayflower when he told the same Senate committee on June 8 that the bureau had information about Sessions that would have made it “problematic” for him to be involved in the Russia probe.

Comey would not provide details of what information the FBI had, except to say that he could only discuss it privately with the senators. Current and former officials said he appeared to be alluding to intelligence on Kislyak’s account of an encounter with Sessions at the Mayflower.

Senate Democrats later called on the FBI to investigate the event in April at the Mayflower hotel.

Sessions’s role in removing Comey as FBI director angered many at the bureau and set in motion events that led to the appointment of former FBI director Robert S. Mueller III as a special counsel overseeing the Russia probe.

Trump’s harsh words toward the attorney general fueled speculation this week that Sessions would be fired or would resign. So far, he has resisted resigning, saying that he intends to stay in the job “as long as that is appropriate.”

So let's be clear about this:
-> Obviously more Collusion evidence. Policy promises/positions in exchange for help.
-> Sessions committed perjury, period. Will likely want to strike a plea deal. Inc. Mueller informant?
-> Sessions almost certainly has to resign.
-> Going by the example of how Trump has had to replace Comey with Wray, the only new Attorney General he'd get would be a person of impeccable character who will have to promise not to fire Mueller or interfere in the investigation.

Get fucked Trump. Enjoy your two scoops Trumpkins.

[Wyrt]

And down goes another sycophant.

There's no defense for this. He lied, brazenly, in his confirmation hearing. That's perjury without question and grounds for removal from office and prosecution. Get fucked, Sessions.

[Paranoid Android]

Hmm? Maybe the racist elf should resigns. I mean this administration.

[Garnier Fructis]

A lot of people on Twitter are wondering if this was actually a Trump leak to force Sessions out.

Seems rather counterproductive.

[Belize]

A lot of people on Twitter are wondering if this was actually a Trump leak to force Sessions out.

Seems rather counterproductive.

That don't make no sense.

Trump could just ask him to take a hike.

[Kujako]

A lot of people on Twitter are wondering if this was actually a Trump leak to force Sessions out.

Seems rather counterproductive.

Are the words spelled correctly, and used in the proper order? Than it's not Trump.

[Vizardlorde]

so who is going down next? I swear they should just put them all in a display cage on the whitehouse grounds once this shitshow administration ends

[DarkTZeratul]

so who is going down next?

My money's on Kushner.

[Wyrt]

so who is going down next?

Ivanka.

Took out Kushner, Manafort, Jr., and Sessions. Ivanka's the only one left that is close to Trump.

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My money's on Kushner.

True. He's not down just quite yet, but he's definitely hurting after meeting with Russian spies and lying on security clearance forms.

[Sky High]

Oh this makes him getting all pissy during those hearing a few months ago even more amusing, get fucked Jeffy.

[Breccia]

Jesus, slow news day eh? @Wyrt, the main discussion's in here, I'm sure you'll want to weigh in.

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Well. I don't see how this could be anything OTHER than retaliation from the intelligence community.

Taking all bets: how many pages until "but her emaaaaaaaaaaaails" used without sarcasm? Because that's increasingly all they have left.

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A lot of people on Twitter are wondering if this was actually a Trump leak to force Sessions out.

What people?

It would be the height of self-unawareness if Trump's rabid fanbase said this. They would be admitting Trump knew about the collusion, in order for him to leak this.

[Garnier Fructis]

What people?

It would be the height of self-unawareness if Trump's rabid fanbase said this. They would be admitting Trump knew about the collusion, in order for him to leak this.

I just googled 'trump sessions leak' earlier and clicked on the twitter link. There's more now, and it's all pretty bizarre.

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Taking all bets: how many pages until "but her emaaaaaaaaaaaails" used without sarcasm? Because that's increasingly all they have left.

They've also got "We're X days in and still going strong!"

[Breccia]

I just googled 'trump sessions leak' earlier and clicked on the twitter link.

Huh.

Firing Sessions has its own ups and downs for Trump, but I'm fairly sure his replacement can't fire Mueller. I think only Rosenstein has that authority. Anyone want to back that up or refute it?

[Breccia]

I don't see how even "I thought the cop was a prostitute" will work here. Is there a way to get out of this, other than handwaving which will last the weekend at least?

[Milchshake]

That don't make no sense.

Trump could just ask him to take a hike.

You're forgetting this is Stupid Watergate, and firing Sessions would be seen a losing.

From cybersecurity reporter Garret Graff

Every GOP figure I've spoken to at #AspenSecurity assumes Trump leaked this to force Sessions out. "Certainly not a Mueller leak," one said.

If true, it would fit a pattern of Trump’s complete inability to think strategically. The leak suggests that Trump knew the extent that his Attorney General had perjured himself; it provides additional evidence of questionable linkages between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

[Wyrt]

You're forgetting this is Stupid Watergate, and firing Sessions would be seen a losing.

From cybersecurity reporter Garret Graff


If true, it would fit a pattern of Trump’s complete inability to think strategically. The leak suggests that Trump knew the extent that his Attorney General had perjured himself; it provides additional evidence of questionable linkages between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Forcing Sessions out means Trump can get a new AG who will not be recused from the investigation. Makes sense in a very, very, stupid way.

[Kronik85]

I'm not Trump fan but don't you guys remember her emails? They were much worse, you can only imagine how much worse the US wouls be doing if Killary had won. Fucking partisans never get that we need to rally round the President and defend him from all this fake news untill the liberal MSM is dead in the water and everyone can finally be as woke as I am.

[Machismo]

I'm not Trump fan but don't you guys remember her emails? They were much worse, you can only imagine how much worse the US wouls be doing if Killary had won. Fucking partisans never get that we need to rally round the President and defend him from all this fake news untill the liberal MSM is dead in the water and everyone can finally be as woke as I am.

Well done, sir.

[Kronik85]

Well done, sir.

Well it was looking like we might make a whole page without it. Pretty sure I hit all the key points but I'm no expert on how to Trumpkin.

-Not a Tump fan
-But her emails!
-Everyone but me is Partisan
-It's all fake news
-Evil MSM

What am I missing?

[Skroe]

Forcing Sessions out means Trump can get a new AG who will not be recused from the investigation. Makes sense in a very, very, stupid way.

Except consider the FBI Director replacement saga with Wray and how that ended: with Democrats and Republicans unanimously approving him on the Judiciary Committee and likely a 90+ vote approval incoming in the Senate. This after Trump's team floated some people who would never have gotten votes like that.

If Trump fires Sessions or Sessions quits, the only Attorney General that could make it through the Senate, now, would be someone of truly impeccable character. It wouldn't be a political choice. He'd basically have name somebody like Mueller to the post for it to get confirmed. And that nominee will be asked very specific questions about Mueller, Russia, Trump and the probe.

Also this is the part where I want to say again, "Fuck Harry Reid" for lowering the threshold on nominees from 60 votes to 50, for the sake of Obama in 2014, which wasn't worth it at all no matter what the "fierce urgency of now" was. Trump's miserable Administration's staffing as a godfather in that son of a bitch who violated the 60 vote norm. I hope MMO-OT liberals will join me in a round of "Fuck Harry Reid", for the sake of expressing a desire to return to the normal order.

I would not be afraid of Sessions resigning if it came to that. Trump's problems would get more, not less complicated.

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I'm not Trump fan but don't you guys remember her emails? They were much worse, you can only imagine how much worse the US wouls be doing if Killary had won. Fucking partisans never get that we need to rally round the President and defend him from all this fake news untill the liberal MSM is dead in the water and everyone can finally be as woke as I am.

This is so perfect. You hit everything important. *claps*