Papadopoulos plea includes more evidence that Sessions lied under oath

[MelissaB]

Papadopoulos plea includes more evidence that Sessions lied under oath

"Senator Franken, I'm not aware of any of those activities."

During his confirmation hearing in January, Attorney General Jeff Sessions denied having knowledge of “any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government during the course of the campaign.”

In a now-infamous exchange, Sessions, answering a question from Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) about what he’d do if evidence emerged that the Trump campaign had been in touch with Russian officials, said, “I’m not aware of those activities.”

... snip

But this week, we learned that Sessions’ knowledge of the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia went beyond his meetings with Kislyak. According to numerous reports and former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos’ guilty plea for making false statements to the FBI, Sessions and Trump participated in a March 2016 conversation about whether Trump should meet with Putin — a meeting in which Papadopoulos made clear he could arrange a Trump-Putin rendezvous because of his “connections.”

Both CNN and the New York Times report that Sessions played a key role in nixing the proposed meeting. On Wednesday, CNN reported that Sessions “shut down the idea” after Papadopoulos pitched it during the March 2016 meeting — a get-together Trump proudly highlighted on Twitter.

More: https://thinkprogress.org/papadopoulos-plea-includes-more-evidence-that-sessions-lied-under-oath-05fc02506be9/

[MelissaB]

1. Another snip

The inconsistency between Sessions’ testimony and what we now know about the Trump campaign’s contact with Russia is particularly problematic for the attorney general, given that he was under oath. But the sequence of events detailed in Papadopoulos’ guilty plea — events further detailed by CNN and the Times — also pose problems for Trump.

[spanone]

2. every single one of them in the cabinet is a goddamn liar

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

3. Sing it!!

[louis-t]

7. "WE WILL, WE WILL, OUST YOU!!!"

"SING IT!"

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

12. hahahaha... good one!!

[R B Garr]

14. +1, Sanders isn't even trying to be legitimate anymore. Her drinking game analogy,

blaming victims, blaming Clinton -- just a total collapse of even basic legitimacy and a total troll tactic.

[FBaggins]

4. Mueller has to find evidence that the meeting took place before it's a problem for Sessions

The "professor" and "Putin's niece" wouldn't qualify as "communicating with the Russian government" or "Russian officials"

The meeting between Trump and Putin that he reportedly tried to set up (that the two were supposedly offering) would count if it took place... but in that case Sessions' problems would be far larger than lying to Congress.

[LanternWaste]

8. Governments often sanction private citizens to speak for them

"The "professor" and "Putin's niece" wouldn't qualify as "communicating with the Russian government" or "Russian officials..."

Governments often sanction private citizens to speak for them (officially), as Washington did with John Scali and Moscow did with Pyotr Fedorev in 1962.

[FBaggins]

10. Sure... but that wasn't the case here

Nothing in the reporting says that Papadopoulos claimed to have met with someone who spoke for the Russian government officially. Sessions would have needed to hear and believe that in order for his statement to be a lie.

Not saying that it wasn't a lie... only that we don't know it at this point.

[lagomorph777]

11. Mueller's report could say "The Professor" and "Ginger" but he knows who they are...

and undoubtedly has a ton of evidence showing they are acting for Putin.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

13. The OTHER Ginger is the one deserving further investigation. (Pun intended.)

[Gothmog]

5. Lock him up

[FSogol]

6. Sessions will be sentenced to Tree Arrest.

[Madam45for2923]

9. Evidence that Sessions, Donald, Manafort & Clovis, etc. KNEW, COLUDED & LIED.