Tag: Jeff Sessions

Trump adviser sent email describing ‘private conversation’ with Russian official

The following article by Rosalind S. Helderman, Matt Zapotosky and Karoun Demirjian was posted on the Washington Post website November 7, 2017:

The FBI obtained a secret court order to monitor communications from former Trump adviser Carter Page in summer 2016, according to law enforcement and intelligence officials. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to President Trump’s campaign whose visit to Moscow during the election has drawn scrutiny, sent an email to fellow Trump aides during his trip describing “a private conversation” with a senior Russian official who spoke favorably of the Republican candidate, according to records released late Monday by congressional investigators.

Page also wrote that he had been provided “incredible insights and outreach” by Russian lawmakers and “senior members” of Russian President Vladi­mir Putin’s administration during the trip. Continue reading “Trump adviser sent email describing ‘private conversation’ with Russian official”

Hits from Dems and Trump put Sessions in familiar hot seat

The following article by Zeke Miller and Sadie Gurman of the Associated Press was psoted on the Star Tribune website November 3, 2017:

Pres Trump answers questions from the media before departing the White House Friday for a trip to Asia. Credit: OLIVIER DOULIERY, TNS

WASHINGTON — The nation’s chief law enforcement officer found himself in a familiar spot Friday: belittled by the president, pressured to investigate political opponents and sucked back into the center of the storm around the investigation into the Trump administration’s campaign ties to Russia.

In President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, Attorney General Jeff Sessions appears to be perpetually in the hot seat, yet he has made clear he’s not going anywhere. In an administration where top aides serve at the president’s displeasure, the former Alabama senator has shown he is more than willing to absorb the blows.

Trump paused to hit Sessions with yet another indignity just before he left the White House for a 12-day Asia trip increasingly colored by his domestic political troubles. Asked if he would fire the attorney general if he doesn’t investigate his Democratic political rivals, Trump said, “I don’t know.” He continued to vent his frustration with the top prosecutor. Continue reading “Hits from Dems and Trump put Sessions in familiar hot seat”

Pressure On Sessions Rises As Democrats Call For Him To Clarify Testimony On Russia

The following article by Nick Visser and video was posted on the Huffington Post website November 2, 2017:

“I am deeply troubled that this newest revelation strongly suggests that the Senate — and the American public — cannot trust your word,” wrote Sen. Al Franken.

Senate Democrats have called on Jeff Sessions to clarify just how much he knew about attempts by the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election, following revelations that the attorney general was previously in a meeting with former Trump campaign aide-turned special counsel cooperator George Papadopoulos.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) demanded that Sessions clarify his past statements and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has asked the attorney general to once again appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee following the indictments this week of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafortand his longtime associate Rick Gates as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Continue reading “Pressure On Sessions Rises As Democrats Call For Him To Clarify Testimony On Russia”

Exclusive: Carter Page testifies he told Sessions about Russia trip

The following article was posted on the CNN website November 3, 2017:

Credit: Sergei Karpukhin, Reuters

Former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page privately testified Thursday that he mentioned to Jeff Sessions he was traveling to Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign — as new questions emerge about the attorney general’s comments to Congress about Russia and the Trump campaign.

During more than six hours of closed-door testimony, Page said that he informed Sessions about his coming July 2016 trip to Russia, which Page told CNN was unconnected to his campaign role. Page described the conversation to CNN after he finished talking to the House intelligence committee. Continue reading “Exclusive: Carter Page testifies he told Sessions about Russia trip”

Franken to Sessions: American public cannot trust your word

The following article by Jennifer Brooks was posted on the Star Tribune website November 2, 2017:

Minnesota Democrat calls on the attorney general to give full accounting of the Trump campaign’s contact with Russia.

WASHINGTON – Sen. Al Franken has some questions about Russia for Attorney General Jeff Sessions — about eight pages’ worth.

Franken fired off a lengthy letter to Sessions on Thursday, asking him to give his own account of interactions between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. It followed the guilty plea earlier this week by a former Trump foreign policy adviser on charges of lying to federal agents about his contact with Russians. Continue reading “Franken to Sessions: American public cannot trust your word”

Trump and Sessions Denied Knowing About Russian Contacts. Records Suggest Otherwise.

The following article by Michael S. Schmidt, Matt Apuzzo and Scott Shane was posted on the New York Times website November 2, 2017:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions and President Trump stated in early 2017 that no campaign advisers had contact with Russians. However, new court documents show that a foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos, had contacts that he told them about in 2016. By A.J. CHAVAR and MARK MAZZETTI on Publish Date November 2, 2017. Photo by Stephen Crowley/The New York Times. Watch in Times Video »

WASHINGTON — Standing before reporters in February, President Trump said unequivocally that he knew of nobody from his campaign who was in contact with Russians during the election. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has told the Senate the same thing.

Court documents unsealed this week cast doubt on both statements and raised the possibility that Mr. Sessions could be called back to Congress for further questioning. Continue reading “Trump and Sessions Denied Knowing About Russian Contacts. Records Suggest Otherwise.”

For the Record: Sessions on contacts between Trump campaign and Russians

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website November 2, 2017:

The Senate Judiciary Committee grilled Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a Department of Justice oversight hearing on Oct. 18, asking him about issues from Russian meddling to immigration enforcement. (Joyce Koh/The Washington Post)

During two hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has tangled with Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) concerning his knowledge of possible communications between Trump campaign officials and Russian officials.

On Monday, court documents were unsealed that show that George Papadopoulos, whom Donald Trump had named as a key foreign policy adviser in March 2016, had pleaded guilty on Oct. 5 to charges of lying to the FBI about his contacts with foreign officials, including people purporting to work with the Russian government. One filing describes how, at a meeting on March 31, 2016, that was attended by Trump and Sessions, Papadopoulos said “he had connections that could help arrange a meeting between then-candidate Trump and [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin.” Continue reading “For the Record: Sessions on contacts between Trump campaign and Russians”

Sessions’s claim that ‘dirty immigration lawyers’ encourage clients to cite ‘credible fear’

The following article by Nicole Lewis was posted on the Washington Post website October 26, 2017:

“We also have dirty immigration lawyers who are encouraging their otherwise unlawfully present clients to make false claims of asylum providing them with the magic words needed to trigger the credible fear process.”

-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, remarks to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, Oct. 12, 2017

On Oct. 8, President Trump released a list of strict immigration policies that include funding for a border wall with Mexico, restricting federal grants to “sanctuary cities,” and a scaling back of legal pathways to citizenship. Just a few days later, on Oct. 12, Attorney General Jeff Sessions encouraged Congress to pass the administration’s legislative priorities to solve the “crisis at our borders.”

In a speech, Sessions described an immigration system rife with “fraud and abuse” which paves the way for millions of immigrants to enter the country illegally. Sessions zeroed in on the asylum system in the United States, asserting that “dirty immigration lawyers” are coaching their clients to make “fake claims” to trigger “credible fear” proceedings so they can stay in the United States. Continue reading “Sessions’s claim that ‘dirty immigration lawyers’ encourage clients to cite ‘credible fear’”

Sessions’s plan for immigration courts would undermine their integrity

The following editorial by the Editorial Board of the Washington Post was posted on their website October 22, 2017:

AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

ATTORNEY GENERAL Jeff Sessions decried the state of the immigration courts in remarks Oct. 12 before the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, lamenting “rampant abuse and fraud” in asylum applications. As part of Mr. Sessions’s push for an overhaul of the immigration system, the department also plans to begin evaluating immigration judges on the basis of how many cases they resolve. This proposal would do little to fix the United States’ backlogged immigration courts and much to undermine their integrity.

The Trump administration hinted at the plan in a wish list of immigration policies, alongside commitments to constructing President Trump’s promised border wall and withholding federal grants from so-called sanctuary cities. According to reporting by The Post, government documents show that the Justice Department“intends to implement numeric performance standards to evaluate Judge performance.” Such a metric would probably involve assessing judges based on how many cases they complete or how quickly they decide them — a plan that the National Association of Immigration Judges has called a “death knell for judicial independence.” Continue reading “Sessions’s plan for immigration courts would undermine their integrity”

Watch: Sessions won’t say if he’ll jail journalists

The following article from the Associated Press was posted on the MPR website October 18, 2017:

Democratic Sen. Al Franken is accusing Attorney General Jeff Sessions of “moving the goalposts” in denying his interactions with the Russian ambassador.

In a testy exchange, Franken confronted Sessions about his testimony in January, in which he said he had no communications with Russians. Sessions later had to recuse himself from the Justice Department’s investigation of Trump campaign ties to Russia after it was revealed he had conversations with the ambassador. Franken says his explanations of those interactions continue to change.

But Sessions, visibly frustrated and voice rising, called Franken’s line of questioning unfair. He says he answered the question as a surrogate of the Trump campaign. Sessions says he may have discussed Trump’s campaign positions with the ambassador but insists he did not have a continuing exchange of information with him. Continue reading “Watch: Sessions won’t say if he’ll jail journalists”