During his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he didn’t have any private meetings or recall any conversations with Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel, and did not have any private meetings, nor do I recall any conversations with any Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel and that “the suggestion that I participated in any collusion, that I was aware of any collusion with the Russian government to hurt this country–which I have served with honor for 35 years–or to undermine the integrity of our democratic process an appalling and detestable lie.”
Sessions said, “I did not have any private meetings, nor do I recall any conversations with any Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel. I did not attend any meetings at that event separate, prior to the speech I attended by the president — today. I attended a reception with my staff that included at least two dozen people and President Trump, though I do recall several conversations that I had during that pre-speech reception, I do not have any recollection of meeting or talking to the Russian ambassador or any other Russian officials. if any brief interaction occurred in passing with the Russian ambassador during that reception, I do not remember it. after the speech, I was interviewed by the news media, there was an area for that in a different room, and then I left the hotel. But whether I ever attended a reception where the Russian ambassador was also present is entirely beside the point of this investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.”
He added, “Let me state this clearly, colleagues. I have never met with or had any conversation with any Russians or any foreign officials concerning any type of interference with any campaign or election in the United tSates. Further, I have no knowledge of any such conversations by anyone connected to the Trump campaign. I was your colleague in this body for 20 years, at least some of you, and I — and the suggestion that I participated in any collusion, that I was aware of any collusion with the Russian government to hurt this country–which I have served with honor for 35 years–or to undermine the integrity of our democratic process an appalling and detestable lie.”
Sessions further stated, “Relatedly, there is the assertion that I did not answer Senator Franken’s (D-MN) question honestly at my confirmation hearing. colleagues, that is false. … This is what happened, Senator Franken asked me a rambling question after some six hours of testimony that included dramatic, new allegations that the United States intelligence community, the US intelligence community, had advised President-elect Trump ‘that there was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between trump’s surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government.’ I was taken aback by that explosive allegation, which he said was being reported as breaking news that very day, and which I had not heard. I wanted to refute that immediately, any suggestion that I was part of such an activity. I replied quote — I replied to Senator Franken this way, ‘Senator Franken, I’m not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the russians, and I’m unable to comment on it.’ That was the context in which I was asked the question, and in that context, my answer was a fair and correct response to the charge as I understood it. … It simply did not occur to me to go further than the context of the question and to list any conversations that I may have had with Russians in routine situations, as I had had many routine meetings with other foreign officials.”
He also stated that he had “readily acknowledged” two meetings he had with Russian officials, “and certainly not one thing happened that was improper in any one of those meetings.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.