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As we all know Jefferson Beuregard Sessions III has repeated stated under oath that he had no knowledge of “anyone in the Trump campaign being in contact with Russians” but that — on top of the fact that he had personally met Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak twice which he claimed was not related to his position as a member of the campaign or a surrogate — was a big giant lie.
The guilty plea Papadopoulos signed shows the campaign adviser communicated with Russians promising stolen campaign information on Hillary Clinton, and he tried repeatedly to set up meetings between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Papadopoulos told other committee members, and Trump himself, about his contacts with Russia during a March 31, 2016, meeting — and proposed arranging for the Republican candidate to meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
According to a CNN report Wednesday, Trump “didn’t say yes and he didn’t say no.”
But Sessions, then an Alabama senator and chairman of his national security team, shut down the proposal, according to one person present for the meeting and confirmed by another source.
So right here in this meeting Papadopoulos announced that he was meeting and speaking with various Russian specifically in order to set up a meeting between Putin and Trump — and Session knew this because he’s the one who say “NO” right there in that meeting. Later on in May there were communications between Manafort and Gates stated that “Let[‘]s discuss, We need someone to communicate that DT is not doing these trips. It should be someone low level in the campaign so as not to send any signal.” And then in August just before Manafort left the campaign he advised Papadopoulos to “make the trip” to Moscow himself.
Session’s could put on the “good guy” hat by saying he was against the idea of Trump going to Moscow and meeting Putin during the campaign, but apparently he couldn’t stop Manafort from authorizing him to go do it on his own anyway.
It appears Papadopoulos didn’t make the trip after Manafort’s departure — and even that shows that George wasn't driving this train, Paul was, even if Sessions was pulling the break — he was still on board and has lied to Congress about it multiple times.
Somebody tweet Al Franken, stat!
Thursday, Nov 2, 2017 · 10:22:40 PM +00:00
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Frank Vyan Walton
Sessions admits that he knew about Papadopoulos all along.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions reportedly now admits that he was aware of George Papadopoulos’s efforts to arrange meetings between the Trump campaign and Russia — a seemingly direct contradiction of sworn testimony he gave to the Senate.
Sources tell NBC News that Sessions now remembers rejecting a proposal by Papadopoulos to set up a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
NBC News reporter Ken Dilanian, appearing on MSNBC Thursday afternoon, explained that this was significant because “he testified under oath that he was aware of no discussions with Russians, at least concerning collusion in the election.”
Thursday, Nov 2, 2017 · 11:42:15 PM +00:00
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Frank Vyan Walton
Carter Page was interviewed by House Intel behind closed doors today and between pleading the Fifth and refusing to turn over documents reportedly tells them that he personally informed Jeff Sessions that he was traveling to Moscow.
So that’s a thing.
And also Al Franken is on the case “You failed to tell the truth”.
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), whose questioning of Attorney General Jeff Sessions in his January confirmation hearing kicked off a chain of events that ultimately led to the appointment of a special counsel, on Thursday had some more pointed questions for Sessions.
Franken included his questions in a scathing letter to Sessions after court documents unsealed Monday revealed that President Donald Trump’s former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos in March 2016 floated the idea of setting up a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Once again, developments in the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election have brought to light evidence that you failed to tell the truth about your interactions with Russian operatives during the campaign, as well as your awareness of Russian contacts by other members of the Trump campaign team,” Franken wrote.
He called it “another example in an alarming pattern” in which Sessions “apparently failed to tell the truth, under oath, about the Trump team’s contacts with agents of Russia—a hostile foreign power that interfered in the 2016 election.”
“We must get to the bottom of what happened so that we can prevent it from happening again,” Franken wrote. “I am deeply troubled that this newest revelation strongly suggests that the Senate—and the American public—cannot trust your word.”
He asked Sessions to respond to his questions by next Friday, Nov. 10.