The morning news blares: Jeff Sessions lied! Said No Meeting With Russians About Campaign!
AG Sessions’ response denies lying. He does not recall what was said in the September meeting with the Russian ambassador and whatever it was, didn’t relate to the campaign.
As quoted by the Washington Post, here is just one question-and-answer on point:
“At his Jan. 10 Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Sessions was asked by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) what he would do if he learned of any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of the 2016 campaign.
“ ‘I’m not aware of any of those activities,’ he responded. He added: “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.'”
This reminds me of some of the dodge ball answers given by President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky debacle. More recently, the meeting between President Clinton and AG Loretta Lynch on a plane during last year’s campaign sounded similar alarms. I said then, and I’ll say now: Lawyers are ethically mandated to avoid even the APPEARANCE of impropriety.
As far as I know, Mr. Sessions is an attorney carrying a law license which was issued by a state with some version of a code of ethics. Though not every state has adopted the ABA Model Code of Professional Ethics, every state has something similar or a version of the ABA’s model rules. A Google search found Canon 9 of the Alabama Code:
CANON 9
A Lawyer Should Avoid Even the Appearance of Professional Impropriety.
AG Sessions should have said, “I met with the Russian ambassador in my capacity as a Senator, and we discussed XYZ.” He did not. He has some ‘splainin’ to do. The appearance at present is one of professional impropriety. This does not mean it cannot be explained; but it should, and because he holds high office, that explanation should be given to the American people.
Until that explanation comes to us, we should consider Attorney General Sessions to be on notice that his job might be forfeit. He works for us, and we should consider whether to place him on probation until his conduct improves. We’d do the same for a minimum wage worker. Attorney General Sessions should be held to no less a standard than the average American worker. In fact, because he holds a license to practice law and occupies the highest nonjudicial law job in the nation, the standard to which we hold him should be correspondingly elevated.
America deserves no less.
Over in facebooklandia I shared an article about the Obama administration making moves to preserve any and all documentation WRT Russia and contacts by folks that may need investigating.
I’m already seeing folks scream “THIS IS A DEMOCRATIC WITCH HUNT!”
The thing is, if there honestly is nothing to hide, why try so very hard to sweep it under the rug? If everything is on the up and up, why isn’t this administration as well as any and all Republicans that support this administration and are trying frantically to assist in sweeping this under the rug and make it all disappear, just emphatically demanding an open investigation by a neutral third party?
I’ve taken enough trips around the sun to have learned that only fire makes smoke. And when folks begin telling you not to worry about the smoke and just to pay no attention to it, that’s when you seriously need to put a lens on it to find out what is really going on.
I agree. I want to know (a) what was said on the RNC floor and in his office; and (b) why he did not disclose it, even by way of saying, as noted in my post, “I had this conversation about the weather on the floor of the RNC, and I had a conversation about XYZ as a senator, in my office.” So now he has to explain why he lied. He DID NOT say AT ANY TIME that “I never met with them REGARDING THE CAMPAIGN, but I talked with them in my capacity as a senator.” So, he lied. Pure and simple. And we deserve to know why he lied and what the WHOLE truth is.