03/04/2017
Guess Who Set Up Sessions’ “Meetings” With Russian Ambassador
During Sessions conformation hearings, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) asked the then-Senator Sessions if he had any knowledge of meetings between the Trump campaign and Russian official to discuss the campaign.
Sessions answered that he was “not aware of any of those activities.” Noting that he himself had “been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign,” he said that he had had no such communication with the Russians, according to Fox News. The senator was clearly stating that he had no meetings to exchange information about the election.
In fact, it was the Obama administration that set up the said meetings over which the Democrats are now having a faux fit. According to Fox News:
So what are the two meetings that Sessions had? The first came at a conference on “Global Partners in Diplomacy,” where Sessions was the keynote speaker. Sponsored by the U.S. State Department, The Heritage Foundation, and several other organizations, it was held in Cleveland during the Republican National Convention.
The conference was an educational program for ambassadors invited by the Obama State Department to observe the convention. The Obama State Department handled all of the coordination with ambassadors and their staff, of which there were about 100 at the conference.
Apparently, after Sessions finished speaking, a small group of ambassadors—including the Russian ambassador—approached the senator as he left the stage and thanked him for his remarks. That’s the first “meeting.” And it’s hardly an occasion—much less a venue—in when a conspiracy to “interfere” with the November election could be hatched.
Sessions also apparently met with the Russian ambassador in September. But on that occasion, Sessions was acting as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, not as a surrogate for the Trump campaign. That’s why the meeting was held in his Senate office. His DOJ spokesperson, Sarah Isgur Flores, says they discussed relations between the two countries – not the election.
There was nothing unusual about this: Sessions met with more than two dozen ambassadors during 2016, including the Ukrainian ambassador the day before the meeting with the Russian ambassador
It has become clear that the Democrats apoplexy over Sessions' so-called meetings with Russian officials strains all credulity as an impeachable offense. During Sessions conformation hearings, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) asked the then-Senator Sessions if he had any knowledge of meetings between the Trum...
