This photo of Jeff Sessions from last year should refresh his memory

During his Senate testimony this Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions strongly dismissed the suggestion that he “participated in any collusion” with the Russian government during the 2016 campaign. When confronted with former FBI Director James Comey’s assertion that he met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during an undisclosed meeting at the Mayflower Hotel in 2016, Sessions didn’t outright deny the claim, but instead relied on his ever-present faulty memory to avoid it.

During his questioning on Tuesday, Sessions conceded that it was “possible” that he’d spoken to Kislyak but just couldn’t “recall.”

“Certainly I can assure you nothing improper [happened] if I’d had a conversation with him, and it’s conceivable that occurred,” Sessions said. “I just don’t remember it.”

In light of that testimony, a Getty photo posted to Twitter in early June by Daily Kos‘s Kerry Eleveld seems to place Sessions with Kislyak at the April 2016 event at the Mayflower. In the photo, Kislyak is seated at the front row of seats to the right:

The caption for the photo at Getty’s website reads the following:

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) (2L) speaks with a guest while Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak(front row R) waits to hear Republican US Presidential hopeful Donald Trump speak about foreign policy at the Mayflower Hotel April 27, 2016 in Washington, DC.

Nevertheless, the photo may prove hard to convince those skeptical of the Russia investigation. One commenter on Eleveld’s post said it “proves nothing.” Maybe so, but it falls fairly neatly in Comey’s timeline of events.

Ultimately, whatever plausible deniability exists in the photo, Sessions will likely exploit it.

Watch Sessions’ opening statement to his Senate testimony in the video below:

[H/T The Week] Featured image via Ryan J. Reilly (Flickr)

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.