U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been contradicted by three people over his testimony that he was against a proposal for President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign team to meet with Russians officials.
The three people declined to be identified, but they told Reuters that they have spoken about the matter to investigators with Special Counsel Robert Mueller or congressional committees.
In November 2017, Sessions testified before Congress, where he said that he “pushed back” against the proposal made by former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos at a March 31, 2016, campaign meeting. Sessions then chaired the meeting as head of the Trump campaign’s foreign policy team.
“Yes, I pushed back,” Sessions told the House Judiciary Committee on November 14, when asked whether he shut down Papadopoulos’ proposed outreach to Russia.
Sessions was later also questioned by Mueller.
Meanwhile, the three people who attended the March campaign meeting also said to Reuters that they gave their version of events to the FBI agents or congressional investigators which are part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
According to Reuters, their accounts differed in certain respects; however, all three said that Sessions had expressed no objections to Papadopoulos’ idea. One person said Sessions was courteous to Papadopoulos and said something in the style of “okay, interesting.” The other two recalled a more similar response.
“It was almost like, ‘Well, thank you and let’s move on to the next person’,” one said.
Meanwhile, J.D. Gordon, who was the Trump campaign’s director of national security and was also one of the people attending the meeting, said in November that Sessions strongly opposed Papadopoulos’ proposal and said no one should speak of it again.
Gordon said that he stood by his statement. The new development raised new questions about Sessions’ testimony regarding contacts with Russia during the campaign.
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