Prosecutors ask FBI agents for info on Uranium One deal

The following article by Tom Winter, Peter Williams and Ken Dilanian was posted on the NBC News website December 21, 2017:

On the orders of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Justice Department prosecutors have begun asking FBI agents to explain the evidence they found in a now dormant criminal investigation into a controversial uranium deal that critics have linked to Bill and Hillary Clinton, multiple law enforcement officials told NBC News.

The interviews with FBI agents are part of the Justice Department’s effort to fulfill a promise an assistant attorney general made to Congress last month to examine whether a special counsel was warranted to look into what has become known as the Uranium One deal, a senior Justice Department official said. Continue reading “Prosecutors ask FBI agents for info on Uranium One deal”

Sorry Sessions, teen pot use actually dropped after Colorado legalization

The following article by Alana Pyke was posted on the Think Progress website December 12, 2017:

The attorney general’s would-be crusade hits another stumbling block.

Far fewer teenagers are using cannabis in Colorado since the state’s tightly regulated legal market for recreational pot got off the ground at the start of 2014, new data shows.

Somebody should tell Attorney General Jeff Sessions. While the ardent drug warrior has thus far surprised critics and disappointed fans by failing to launch the kind of broad crackdown on legalized cannabis that most observers anticipated he would pursue, he has continued to hint that winter is coming for the pot industry. The question of youth pot consumption is almost always on his lips when he discusses the drug. Continue reading “Sorry Sessions, teen pot use actually dropped after Colorado legalization”

Trump Pressed Top Republicans to End Senate Russia Inquiry

The following article by Maggie Haberman and Alexander Burns was posted on the New York Times website November 30, 2017:

Senator Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina, is chairman of the Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. Credit Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Trump over the summer repeatedly urged senior Senate Republicans, including the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to end the panel’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, according to a half dozen lawmakers and aides. Mr. Trump’s requests were a highly unusual intervention from a president into a legislative inquiry involving his family and close aides.

Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, the intelligence committee chairman, said in an interview this week that Mr. Trump told him that he was eager to see an investigation that has overshadowed much of the first year of his presidency come to an end. Continue reading “Trump Pressed Top Republicans to End Senate Russia Inquiry”

While eyes are on Russia, Sessions dramatically reshapes the Justice Department

The following article by Matt Zapotosky and Sari Horwitz was posted on the Washington Post website November 24, 2017:

The Post’s Matt Zapotosky explains how Jeff Sessions has been quickly and effectively implementing President Trump’s vision for America. (Joyce Lee, Matt Zapotosky/The Washington Post)

For more than five hours, Attorney General Jeff Sessions sat in a hearing room on Capitol Hill this month, fending off inquiries on Washington’s two favorite topics: President Trump and Russia.

But legislators spent little time asking Sessions about the dramatic and controversial changes in policy he has made since taking over the top law enforcement job in the United States nine months ago. Continue reading “While eyes are on Russia, Sessions dramatically reshapes the Justice Department”

Mueller requested DOJ hand over documents related to Comey firing: report

The following article by Olivia Beavers was posted on the Hill website November 19, 2017:

© Getty Images

Special counsel Robert Mueller asked the Justice Department within the past month to turn over a wide array of documents as part of its ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, ABC News reported Sunday.

His team is particularly interested in materials that relate to Trump’s dismissal of former FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions‘s decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe earlier this year, a source who was told about the request informed ABC News. Continue reading “Mueller requested DOJ hand over documents related to Comey firing: report”

Jeff Sessions Yuks It Up Over Russians In Speech To Lawyers

The following article by Mary Papenfuss was posted on the Huffington Post website November 18, 2017:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions had lawyers rolling in the aisles with a surprising string of Russian quips at the start of a speech he gave Friday.

Sessions was the keynote speaker at the National Lawyers Convention at Washington’s Mayflower Hotel hosted by the conservative Federalist Society. Continue reading “Jeff Sessions Yuks It Up Over Russians In Speech To Lawyers”

Sessions again changes his account of what he knew about Trump campaign’s dealings with Russians

The following article by Matt Zapotosky and Sari Horwitz was posted on the Washington Post website November 14, 2017:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions answered questions about Russia, President Trump and Roy Moore at the House Judiciary committee hearing Nov. 14. (Photo: Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday again revised his account of what he knew about the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russians, acknowledging for the first time that he recalled a meeting where a foreign policy adviser mentioned having contacts who could possibly broker a meeting between then-candidate Donald Trump and Russian President Vladi­mir Putin.

Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, Sessions said he now remembered adviser George Papadopoulos saying in March 2016 that he knew people who might be able to help arrange a Trump-Putin meeting. Continue reading “Sessions again changes his account of what he knew about Trump campaign’s dealings with Russians”

Four key takeaways from Jeff Sessions’s memory-lapse-filled congressional hearing

The following article by Amber Phillips was posed on the Washington Post website November 14, 2017:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions raises his hand to be sworn in before the House Judiciary Committee. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

Meetings he had with the Russian ambassador during the campaign. Campaign-related conversations he had with the Russian ambassador. Shutting down campaign aide George Papadopoulos after Papadopoulos suggested then-candidate Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin get together.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he couldn’t remember any of these events — that is until the media or Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation remembered them for him.

That’s the key takeaway from Sessions’s hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. What is typically a routine check-in between Congress and the head of the Justice Department got political real fast, largely because of Russia. Continue reading “Four key takeaways from Jeff Sessions’s memory-lapse-filled congressional hearing”

‘It’s grotesque’: Justice Dept. veterans recoil at idea of another special counsel

The following article by Devlin Barrett was posted on the Washington Post website November 14, 2017:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions answered questions about Russia, President Trump and Roy Moore at the House Judiciary committee hearing Nov. 14. (Photo: Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s public suggestion that he may appoint a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton has alarmed current and former Justice Department officials who fear he will further politicize the embattled agency.

Sessions said at a congressional hearing Tuesday that he will weigh recommendations from senior prosecutors on whether to appoint a special counsel over a 2010 uranium company deal and other issues, including donations to the Clinton Foundation. Continue reading “‘It’s grotesque’: Justice Dept. veterans recoil at idea of another special counsel”

Sessions says he ‘always told the truth’ in describing Russia contacts

The following article by Matt Zapotosky and Sari Horwitz was posted on the Washington Post website November 14, 2017:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke before the House Judiciary Committee Nov. 14. (Reuters)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday that he has “always told the truth” in describing his knowledge of Trump campaign contacts with Russians, although he acknowledged that he now recalls an interaction with a lower-level adviser to Donald Trump who said he told Sessions about contacts who could help arrange a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladi­mir Putin.

When asked previously about whether he thought that surrogates from the Trump campaign had communications with the Russians, Sessions said, “I did not, and I’m not aware of anyone else that did, and I don’t believe it happened.” Continue reading “Sessions says he ‘always told the truth’ in describing Russia contacts”