
Sessions met with Russian envoy twice last year, encounters he did not disclose - koops
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html
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dang
Please don't post garden-variety political stories to HN.

This kind of thing is off-topic here and would easily deluge the site if we
didn't actively prevent it from doing so.

~~~
smb06
That kind of "we must actively prevent such stories" censorship approach is
exactly what the government is doing.

A story of quite significance to our daily lives is not off topic here.

~~~
acid__
> A story of quite significance to our daily lives is not off topic here.

Well, the site guidelines[1] would disagree with you:

> Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're
> evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or
> disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's
> probably off-topic.

Again, _If they 'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic._

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

~~~
mjmsmith
The Trump kakistocracy is nothing if not an interesting new phenomenon.

~~~
dang
It looks like you've been using HN primarily for political/ideological
arguments. That's not what this site is for, so please stop using it that way.

~~~
mjmsmith
I have avoided posting political/ideological arguments in topics that aren't
about politics or ideology in the first place. But it's your site and your
rules, so consider this account closed.

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pj_mukh
"Sessions last year had more than 25 conversations with foreign ambassadors as
a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, including the British,
Korean, Japanese, Polish, Indian, Chinese, Canadian, Australian and German
ambassadors, in addition to Kislyak"

Ehh, I probably buy this "I didn't meet him as a Trump surrogate" line(he was
head of Senate Armed Services committee?), but this is exactly the kind of
pointless reactionary conspiracy fueled pablum that the Trump campaign ran
against Clinton. You made the bed, now lay in it.

~~~
skyrw
Meeting with a government ambassador in your role as head of the Senate Armed
Services committee and claiming you didn't talk about the election is a far
cry from meeting with the Attorney General potentially set to potentially
prosecute your wife and claiming you only discussed your grandchildren.

~~~
pj_mukh
The problem here is that there is objectively no difference between the two
scenarios you laid out (because there is no evidence either way). It is purely
a matter of "optics" in both situations (trust or lack thereof), so your
interpretation is wholly dependent on what other news about that particular
person you've read.

~~~
skyrw
That's a fair assessment.

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ctur
The Fourth Estate is doing its job. Whatever the truth is, the pressure from
respected institutions like the Washington Post and New York Times will be a
big part of why we eventually find it. I am proud that the press is holding
the government accountable.

~~~
dogma1138
Accountable to what? what is the big deal or any with this "incident"?

~~~
WalterSear
The guy who wants to be the country's top lawyer was caught perjuring himself
in front of congress. Republicans in congress can't ignore this without
significant loss of face with their constituents.

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Jemaclus
I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is that Senate confirmation hearings
are under oath, and therefore Sessions has perjured himself. Last I checked,
perjury was a felony.

What happens next?

~~~
skyrw
There is nothing here to prove that he perjured himself.

From the article: In January, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) asked Sessions for
answers to written questions. “Several of the President-elect’s nominees or
senior advisers have Russian ties. Have you been in contact with anyone
connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election,
either before or after election day?” Leahy wrote.

Sessions responded with one word: “No.”

Justice officials said Sessions met with Kislyak on Sept. 8 in his capacity as
a member of the armed services panel rather than in his role as a Trump
campaign surrogate.

“He was asked during the hearing about communications between Russia and the
Trump campaign — not about meetings he took as a senator and a member of the
Armed Services Committee,” Flores said.

___

Unless they can prove that the meeting was related to the election then it
seems unlikely that this was perjury.

~~~
adriand
From the NYT article:

\----------

On Wednesday, a Justice Department official confirmed that Mr. Sessions had
two conversations with Ambassador Kislyak last year, when he was still a
senator, despite testifying at his Jan. 10 confirmation hearing that he had no
contact with the Russians. At that hearing, Mr. Sessions was asked what he
would do if it turned out to be true that anyone affiliated with the Trump
team had communicated with the Russian government in the course of the
campaign. He said he was “not aware of any of those activities.”

“I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I didn’t
have — did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to
comment on it,” Mr. Sessions said at the time.

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russdill
There are finally investigations being disclosed too. Problem is it seems they
want to focus on who illegally leaked the information about contact and
meetings.

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donohoe
Subscribe now! Support this coverage!

[https://subscribe.washingtonpost.com/](https://subscribe.washingtonpost.com/)

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TrinaryWorksToo
Does this put his job in jeopardy, or can republicans keep him in office
despite this?

Is there any judicial oversight possible?

~~~
stephancoral
This is exactly why Flynn resigned, so he's in hot water.

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jmorphy88
Sessions had contact with the Russian ambassador as a member of the Armed
Services Committee, not as a campaign surrogate. This is a non-issue.

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ianam
It's great to see the press bringing the duplicity of Trump's cabinet to
light. I worry though that they've inured us to scandal. This would
undoubtedly be a debilitating scandal for a normal administration, but at this
point I think people almost _expect_ Trump and his appointees to tell big
lies.

