Attorney General Jeff Sessions appeared at a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing to hear questions from lawmakers regarding his knowledge of Russian connections between the nation and President Donald Trump. During the hearing, Sessions doubled down on fighting accusations by saying his “story never changed,” but also had some foggy memory of meeting Trump surrogate George Papadopoulos although evidence exists that they did.
NPR reports:
The hearing was Sessions’ first before the House Judiciary Committee as attorney general, but he has frequented other congressional panels investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, giving almost “20 hours” of testimony this year by his count.
He has been under intense scrutiny since his confirmation hearing earlier this year, when he claimed he “did not have communications with the Russians” during the campaign. He has since clarified that statement, after reporting by The Washington Post revealed he had twice met with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
He now says he had no meetings with the Russians to discuss matters related to the campaign.
“My story has never changed; I’ve always told the truth; I’ve answered every question to the best of my recollections,” he said in his opening remarks to lawmakers. “It was a brilliant campaign, in many ways, but it was a form of chaos every day from Day 1.”
Another contradiction sprouted up after Sessions’ Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in October. The attorney general was asked about whether he or any surrogates from the Trump campaign were in communication with Russian government officials, and he responded, “I did not, and I’m not aware of anyone else that did, and I don’t believe it happened.”
Right now, Sessions is looking shady in the light and expect the grilling to only continue as the committee gathers more details on this developing matter.
The hearing can be streamed below if you must.
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Photo: screen cap
