Live Blog: Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All)
Posted: June 13, 2017 Filed under: Live Blog | Tags: Jeff Sessions, Jim Comey firing, Russia, Testimony 34 Commentshttps://twitter.com/Mediaite/status/874664712658616320
Well, it’s time to watch another reason to regret that we now have a constitutional crisis instead of Taco Trucks on every corner! The 84th AG who is supposed to be upholding the US Constitution instead of enabling those crises will undoubtedly bob and weave the questions like a little white banty rooster pecking or corn. Just exactly how many times did he meet with the Russian Ambassador and why?
When Senator Al Franken asked then-Senator Sessions at his Senate confirmation hearing on January 10 whether he “communicated with the Russian government,” he said, “I’m not aware of any of those activities.” Unprompted, Sessions then went further, saying, “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.” Then less than two months later, on March 1, The Washington Postreported that Sessions had, in fact, met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak—not once, but twice.
It was a serious omission, especially for the nation’s top law-enforcement officer, and one who is a vocal advocate for law and order. Scrambling to contain the damage, Sessions issued a statement that attempted to draw a very subtle distinction. Calling the report “false,” he said that he had “never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign.” His spokeswoman, Sarah Isgur Flores, spelled it out even more clearly: “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,” she said. (In fact, Franken had made no such qualification.) And a White House official insisted that Sessions had “met with the ambassador in an official capacity as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee,” not a campaign surrogate.
Dave Granlund / politicalcartoons.com
I’m not sure we’re going to learn anything but he may try to contradict the Comey testimony. It could be at least interesting to see how he’s treated by his former colleagues.
Sessions will dispute James Comey’s characterization of a conversation the two men had in February.
- This is a big deal, as Comey gave his account under oath.
- The former FBI director said under oath that after his Feb. 14 conversation with Trump, he told Sessions he didn’t want to have any more direct communication with the President. Comey then said that Sessions remained silent, perhaps shrugging his shoulders and nonverbally indicating that he couldn’t be of help.
- Sessions is expected to counter this, saying he responded to Comey by telling him the FBI and DOJ needed to be aware of official protocol regarding communications with the White House. The DOJ released a statement to that effect a few hours after Comey’s testimony. Sessions is expected to make the same statement under oath.
So, if you’re watching or not, we’re going to be following it here! Hang on!
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Comey’s Law School Prof friend turned the Comey memos over to the FBI. It’s breaking news and there’s no written links yet for it.
This is a crime. Organized disenfranchisement by the Republicans.
People need to be reminded that much of this crap begins with the Russian involvement.
Russia hacked our system with possible assistance from the Trump campaign and its surrogates.
These people have lied repeatedly about their contacts and the question remains why. What exactly are they covering up? These people are sinister.
Just a reminder that this is much more than Comey.
(BTW: She may be a Republican but Nichole Wallace on MSNBC is calling it for what it is.)
Yeah. Nicole Wallace totally is calling it and was glad to hear from Painter too. Nice to know a few republicans haven’t gone around the bend completely.
I like Wallace as well and Painter is wonderfully gruff. He’s disgusted to his bones with tRump.
Not really, Pat. The Russians hold all the strings keeping Dump afloat, going back to the 1980s. But the single biggest factor affecting the election was vote suppression. That isn’t to say Putin’s attacks on democracy and Comey’s pathetic garbage weren’t important. But without vote suppression, neither would have changed enough votes to change the election outcome.
Some 7,000,000 suppressed, especially in swing states. Vote margin, around 77,000.
And vote suppression is a homegrown problem, which is maybe why we hear so much less about it.
A woman (ex-FBI) on MSNBC last night said basically anyone meeting with Kislyak was meeting with a Russian spy – Kislyak was and is a Russian spy so he’d be under surveillance. So is the third meeting the one at the Mayflower?
Supposedly, yes.
Unless the Dems become the majority this mess will never be resolved as the GOP will do anything to keep it from happening.
Somehow, someway they will continue to block the truth.
He’s being really lawyerly about his assertions in his introductions. He’s being very specific on what and when … “at the Mayflower” …
He’s a lying little elf.
Is Burr soft-pedaling? They almost seem to have coordinated the Q&A there about the campaign foreign policy team?
Burr Called out Kamala Harris again because she wanted yes no answers instead of letting Sessions stonewall.
https://twitter.com/AmandaSoprano/status/874733110889521152
He has no defense for violating his recusal to recommend Comey’s firing.
Dak, I’m not even sure why but I find your header hilariously. Thanks for the laugh.
He just strikes me as a fussy old Neoconfederate Queen like Lady Lindsey ,,, thx!!!
I’m really confused about what John McCain was doing … was he just trying to lobby Sessions?
Photograph places Jeff Sessions, Russian ambassador together at the Mayflower Hotel
http://theweek.com/speedreads/705463/photograph-places-jeff-sessions-russian-ambassador-together-mayflower-hotel
I just don’t remember that 300-lb Russian guy I was talking — errr, next to.
https://twitter.com/SarahLerner/status/874633244053872640
Nothing shocks me any more … but these guys are like the most stupid mobsters on the planet.
Trump’s Personal Lawyer Boasted That He Got Preet Bharara Fired
Marc Kasowitz, President Trump’s lawyer in the Russia investigation, has bragged he was behind the firing of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-personal-lawyer-boasted-that-he-got-preet-bharara-fired
Racism, pure and simple.
So much for the Bernie effect. Wait, it’s still working: failure at the polls.
https://twitter.com/AlGiordano/status/874786236233338883
We need this initiative in the US!
Whoa. Interesting.
Back from 3 days on the Parkway chasing Rhodies and Flame Azaleas up to near the Virginia border. The radio picked up testimony about halfway through. Sessions’ cross-species imitation of a snake and a weasel was literally turning my stomach.
Then came my own scoundrel senator Burr’s invocation of Southern manners: he cut off that uppity Kamala Harris and invoked the invisible but regionally understood protocol: you must let someone run on as long as they like about anything at all (but in a Senate hearing, when both parties are on a time limit , it’s called stonewalling – thank you, Senator Wyden). You may not interrupt, or it would be unforgivable rudeness, until that person crosses some invisible boundary.
Until said boundary is crossed, the order of patience is: 1. white men. 2. Depending entirely on the white men to whom they appear to be or have been attached, white women 3. Any other man deemed worthy by white men 4. White women who do not appear to be attached to any man. 5. Any other woman.
My experience is that unowned white women are put in the same bucket as undeserving men who are not white, and sometimes, depending on assets and marriage, women who are not white, but on the whole this is the order of interruption (and veracity and rights and everything else that makes the south such a Special Place)
I was so looking forward to getting home to my computer and catching up with your comments on this. Your post and especially your invocation of JBS III as the last standing hero of a decrepit cause have helped a lot with the helpless outrage and indignation.