Calls Again Mount for Jeff Sessions to Resign on New Revelation He Did Not Disclose Meetings With Russians
Sessions ‘Met With Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at Least Two Times Last Year’
Last year during the presidential campaign then-Senator Jeff Sessions did not disclose meetings he had with Russian officials on a federal form he signed to apply for a security clearance. CNN first reported the story Wednesday evening, citing as its source the Dept. of Justice.
“Sessions, who met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at least two times last year, didn’t note those interactions on the form, which requires him to list ‘any contact’ he or his family had with a ‘foreign government’ or its ‘representatives’ over the past seven years, officials said,” CNN reports.
AG Jeff Sessions did not disclose Russia meetings in a security clearance form, DOJ says https://t.co/u6CtbCvFYZ https://t.co/ByU4EkRHcD
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 24, 2017
During his Senate confirmation hearings to become Attorney General earlier this year, Sessions also declined to disclose the meetings. When trapped, Sessions claimed he had met with the Russians not in his capacity as a Trump campaign official, but as a U.S. Senator.
Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores “says he and his staff were then told by an FBI employee who assisted in filling out the form, known as the SF-86, that he didn’t need to list dozens of meetings with foreign ambassadors that happened in his capacity as a senator.”
That now appears to be incorrect.
CNN notes that top Trump adviser Jared Kushner and now-fired former Trump adviser Michael Flynn also neglected to fully reveal the names of Russian officials they had met.
Meetings w/ RUS Ambassador Trump team lied about:
—Sessions (9/8, 7/20)
—Flynn (12/29)
—Kushner (Early Dec.)
—Page (7/20)
—Trump (4/27)— Corey Ciorciari (@CoreyCiorciari) May 24, 2017
The chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush took to Twitter to weigh in:
In the Bush Administration someone who lied on a security clearance form would have been out the door within 24 hrs.https://t.co/DHrVR7sKoq
— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) May 24, 2017
U.S. Senator Kamala Harris:
He’s lied under oath. He’s misled on security clearance forms. It’s simple – he should not be the Attorney General. https://t.co/JKUdHUWVdg
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) May 24, 2017
On social media calls for Sessions to resign once again grow:
Jeff Sessions should’ve been pressed to resign after lying in his testimony. He really needs to resign after this. https://t.co/yCWWCZQvQv
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) May 24, 2017
Time for him to resign–>DOJ: AG Sessions did not disclose meetings with Russian officials – https://t.co/tnsRxGAICx https://t.co/XAE8ztXU4G
— Mike Signorile (@MSignorile) May 24, 2017
We can’t go a day w/o learning a new lie re: Trump’s team & Russia. Sessions should be fired. He has no business leading DOJ. Get him out!
— Maxine Waters (@MaxineWaters) May 24, 2017
Sessions MUST resign immediately. https://t.co/XurtgOruEX
— Stacy Taylor (@StacyResists) May 24, 2017
@JamilSmith Yes! Sessions must resign!
— EKBerthel (@ekberthel) May 24, 2017
If the AG Sessions doesn’t resign it sets a horrible precedent 4 law enforcement that perjury under oath is an acceptable practice. #GPUSA
— Douglas H Millis (@Doughravme) May 24, 2017
@SenateDems Please demand that Jeff Sessions resign. He is unfit to be an attorney, much less the AG.
— RandomRedshirt2017 (@Aprillia) May 24, 2017
It is time for Sessions to resign. He’s a very bad guy, incapable of telling the truth, and not the person we need as attorney general. https://t.co/QiCi9LfT65
— Craig Bowman (@craigab1) May 24, 2017
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Image by Ronald Woan via Flickr and a CC license
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