AG Jeff Sessions Recuses from Russia Probe

As announced on Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from any investigations into Russia’s alleged attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Russia’s interference is a fake news story invented to damage Donald Trump and to save Hillary Clinton’s campaign after multiple hacking incidents.

Sessions says his decision “should not be interpreted as confirmation of the existence of any investigation or suggestive of the scope of any such investigation.” His action is an attempt to put the Russian controversy at rest, but his decision is unlikely to put a stop to the drama.

When asked during his confirmation hearing, Sessions denied communicating with Russian officials during the campaign. In particualr, he said that he did not “recall any specific political discussions” with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. 

On Wednesday, the Justice Department confirmed that Sessions spoke with Kislyak twice during the months leading up to the election. This fact seems to contradict the statements he made during his confirmation hearing.  

A similar situation, also involving Kislyak, pushed former national security adviser Michael Flynn to resign earlier this month. Some Democrats are already calling for Sessions to follow suit. 

“Attorney General Sessions’ narrow recusal and his sorry attempt to explain away his perjury are totally inadequate,” argues House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. “He must resign immediately.” 

Sessions later explained that his conversations with the Russian envoy occurred as part of his role as a member of the Armed Services Committee – not as a Trump campaign surrogate.

“My response went to the question indicated about the continuing surrogate relationship that I firmly denied and correctly denied, and I did not mention in that time that I had met with the ambassador,” said Sessions. “So I will definitely make that a part of the record as I think appropriate.” 

Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) is urging Sessions to publicly clarify the testimony he gave during his confirmation hearing, while other GOP lawmakers praise Sessions for his decision to step away from the investigation. 

Sessions has President Trump’s full support. “Jeff Sessions is an honest man,” said Trump on Thursday. “He did not say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not intentional.” 

“This whole narrative is a way of saving face for Democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed to win,” continued Trump. “The Democrats are overplaying their hand. They lost the election and now they have lost their grip on reality.”  

With Sessions’ recusal, oversight of any investigations involving Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign will fall to acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente. The Dems would rather see the appointment of a special prosecutor, but do not have the leverage to facilitate such a move. 

Editor’s note: As we have said, the entire Russia angle is a smoke screen used during the election to cover up Hillary’s criminal behavior. The evidence we have seen, even descriptions of the so-called “analysis” from the CIA are laughable. Yet the media keeps publishing allegation after allegation.