Attorney General Jeff Sessions again appears to have lied to Congress when he testified under oath that he was unaware of Trump campaign officials having any connection to Russia or Russian operatives.
According to federal court documents released Monday, foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos spoke at a March 31, 2016 national security advisory board meeting -- which both then-candidate Donald Trump and Sessions attended - about the possibility of setting up a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. CNN reports that Trump "heard him out," information that comes from J.D. Gordon, another foreign policy adviser, who was in the room.
Carter Page, yet another Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, traveled to Moscow in July 2016. In a closed session with House Intelligence Committee investigators Thursday, Page reportedly informed the committee that then-Senator Sessions -- a Trump surrogate -- was aware of his travels.
Senate Democrats are demanding Sessions explain himself and the apparent discrepancies between what he's continuing to tell Congress and what court documents now reveal.
Senator Al Franken (D-MN), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has questioned Sessions repeatedly, has sent the Attorney General a letter Thursday and is asking for a reply to nine multipart questions by November 10, 2017. The letter begins:
Democrats demand that Sessions explain his meeting with Papadopoulos (WaPo)
Sen. Franken Demands Attorney General Jeff Sessions Explain Himself Amid New Trump-Russia Revelations (Press Release)
Letter to Sessions (from Senator Al Franken)