In the wake of Wednesday’s breaking news report revealing that Attorney General Jeff Sessions lied to Congress about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, Richard Painter, the former White House ethics lawyer to President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007, slammed Sessions in a series of posts on Twitter.
When Senator Al Franken asked Sessions during his confirmation hearing what he would do if he discovered a member of Trump’s campaign spoke with the Russian government during Trump’s campaign, Sessions responded: “I’m not aware of any of those activities … I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.”
But according to the Washington Post, Sessions had spoken to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak twice during 2016, including once in private.
A spokeswoman for Sessions said that he did not think the communications were relevant to the questioning during his confirmation hearing, adding that he couldn’t remember all the details anyway — a notion that Painter forcefully rebuked, saying that it’s a falsehood that should land Sessions in jail.
Misleading the Senate in sworn testimony about one own contacts with the Russians is a good way to go to jail https://t.co/qH0s6sTMJ9
— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) March 2, 2017
I spent two hours with the Congressional Black Caucus today discussing Russian attacks on the US. Does AG Sessions have anything to say?
— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) March 2, 2017
According to The Hill, the conversation between Sessions and Kislyak took place during the same time intelligence officials claimed Russia was hacking into the U.S. presidential campaign.
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