WaPo: Sessions spoke twice with Russian ambassador during campaign

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Session would've been confirmed even if he said "yes i met up with Russian Ambassador". this is amateur hour mistakes.

He wasn't even asked about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. It's like he heard the question and immediately went into a guilty panic of "deny everything!"

[Virginiá]

Welp, as expected, the usual posters have swooped in and vigorously denied this is relevant at all. I commend their energy in this thread in defending dear leader.

I'm not sure we even need to create actual threads for this anymore. We could even make mock threads that would be pretty accurate, going as follows:

1. anti-Trump people post news about Trump admin official lying about talks with Russian officials, or other ties to Russia
2. pro-Trump people descend from their perch and aggressively deny the story has any relevance at all, or is fake news, and that this is all pathetic desperation / libruhl tears / etc.
3. Hijinks ensue
4. End thread due to rapid degradation in quality of discussion

We actually reached (4) last night, but that was cleaned up and bought us all more time.

[Gass3268]

Manchin - If he lied he should resign

[Trapsy]

We could use a Russian reset right about now.

[SteveRogers]

Btw, for those towing the, "It doesn't count because it was in his role as a Senator, and there's no reason to think they discussed the election" line, one of these meetings occurred at a Heritage Foundation event at the Republican National Convention!

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/321930-sessions-spoke-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-campaign

You must be logged in to read this quote.

My God! the ambassador of a large country to a more powerful country asked to speak to a senior elected official of the country he was ambassador to? Surely such a thing never normally happens, why would it?

You are willfully missing the point. Literally nothing you just said responds to my post, so why are you quoting me? The problem isn't that he met with the Russian ambassador. Nobody is denying that a Senator on the Armed Services Committee might meet with the Russian ambassador in the regular course of business. The problem is that he lied about it. Furthermore, the problem is that while Sessions's defense to the accusation of lying is that he was implicitly making a distinction between communications made in his role as a senator vs his role as part of the Trump campaign, that excuse is undercut by the fact that one of these meetings occurred at a political event at Trump's nominating convention.

[Stranger in a strange land]

Session would've been confirmed even if he said "yes i met up with Russian Ambassador". this is amateur hour mistakes.

Now it looks like he lied.

It doesn't *look* like he lied; he lied.

Yes exactly, he could have sat there, sang the Russian National Anthem, and boasted about how Glorious Putin would crush the pathetic, decadent West which had been degraded by (((Globalists))) and sodomites and how the Trump Administration's policy was designed to prevent White Genocide and he STILL would have gotten confirmed. This is either lying for the sake of lying or there's much, much more to the story than has been revealed.

[Gass3268]

Senator Rob Portman says Sessions should recuse himself

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[Wiz in Wis]

At absolute minimum, he had weeks to prepare for this confirmation hearing, and he had to know Russia would come up. That he couldn't find a better response to this line of questioning only confirms the very base assumption about the Trump administration:

They are completely and pathetically in over their heads. There may be no grand conspiracy here, but it's pretty clear that this team is 100% amateur hour.

And that's the most charitable interpretation I can make. If I'm being honest, I'm pretty sure the Trump campaign was getting info on Clinton from Russia and was coordinating with a foreign power to ensure they'd win. Now, they're getting caught.

[ApatheticAustrian]

Manchin - If he lied he should resign

what a spineless, radical moderate, traitor of..... wait, what?

[Mr. Morden]

If I'm being honest, I'm pretty sure the Trump campaign was getting info on Clinton from Russia and was coordinating with a foreign power to ensure they'd win. Now, they're getting caught.

I would not go that far.  I haven't seen anything to suggest that Trump was secretly getting info directly from the Russians.  But that's not really necessary for it to be a big scandal.  If the info was flowing the other way--that is, Trump people were giving private signals to the Russians about what Trump's foreign policy would look like--that's also a huge scandal IMHO.  The Russians were reported to be behind the DNC hack, and the Trump people knew this.  Giving them hints that Trump would have a foreign policy favorable to them is effectively encouraging them to continue to interfere in the election on Trump's behalf.

[BuckeyeNut]

Manchin - If he lied he should resign

Still not okay with Manchin, but wow.

[KingSweden]

If I'm being honest, I'm pretty sure the Trump campaign was getting info on Clinton from Russia and was coordinating with a foreign power to ensure they'd win. Now, they're getting caught.

I would not go that far.  I haven't seen anything to suggest that Trump was secretly getting info directly from the Russians.  But that's not really necessary for it to be a big scandal.  If the info was flowing the other way--that is, Trump people were giving private signals to the Russians about what Trump's foreign policy would look like--that's also a huge scandal IMHO.  The Russians were reported to be behind the DNC hack, and the Trump people knew this.  Giving them hints that Trump would have a foreign policy favorable to them is effectively encouraging them to continue to interfere in the election on Trump's behalf.

This is the bare minimum. There are suggestions it's worse, but the bare minimum is bad enough

[EnglishPete]

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/837307103370952706

[ApatheticAustrian]

like david frum says all the time...

this is not a case for a special prosecutor, cause those only look on specific criminal acts.....would need to be BIGGER.

[ApatheticAustrian]

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/837307103370952706

stupid woman - not the time to make a story about herself and still can't get it right.

otherwise pointless.

[Fusionmunster]

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/837307103370952706

She didnt lie in front of congress though.

And McCaskill corrected herself and said she'd never had a one on one meeting with the Russians.

[The Other Castro]

If Manchin is saying Sessions should resign, this has legs.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

If Manchin is saying Sessions should resign, this has legs.

No.

[The Other Castro]

If Manchin is saying Sessions should resign, this has legs.

No.

Manchin isn't exactly a stalwart of liberal justice.

[BuckeyeNut]

If Manchin is saying Sessions should resign, this has legs.

No.

What a convincing argument.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

I did not know an opposition party could get any stupider than circa 2011 Republicans, but Democrats sure as heck are trying to outdo them. I don't blame them since the strategy got them the Presidency (?). Or at least in spite of that strategy, it didn't cost them the Presidency.

[Comrade Funk]

The honeymoon lasted less than 24 hours. The Administration is an embarrassment, and we will not be safe from Russian infiltration/blackmail until every member of the Trump Administration is gone.

[The_Doctor]

If J.B. Session the Third of KKK fame is forced to recuse himself so an independent special prosecutor or career Justice officials investigate the Trump - Russian connection, that would be awesome and well worth the drama we're kicking up over this.

Every angle must be explored and every storm must be kicked up. It all leads us to the road where Trumpy and the Russians may have collaborated to win an election.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

He's going to end up recusing himself,  just relax.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

If J.B. Session the Third of KKK fame is forced to recuse himself so an independent special prosecutor or career Justice officials investigate the Trump - Russian connection, that would be awesome and well worth the drama we're kicking up over this.

Every angle must be explored and every storm must be kicked up. It all leads us to the road where Trumpy and the Russians may have collaborated to win an election.

Good luck with all that. Trump will serve his term and continue his path towards being one of the greatest men ever to serve as president.