Jeff Sessions Confirmed as Attorney General After Lying Under Oath About Russia Contacts

The Senate confirmed Jeff Sessions as Attorney General on February 8, 2017, despite Sessions lying under oath during his confirmation hearing about contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign. When asked by Senator Al Franken whether he had communications with Russians, Sessions stated under oath: “I did not have communications with the Russians.”

This testimony was false. Sessions had met twice with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in 2016: a brief conversation in July at the Republican National Convention and an office meeting in September 2016 in his Senate office. Sessions also falsely testified that he was unaware of any contact between Trump campaign members and Russian officials, despite being a senior campaign surrogate and advisor.

Sessions’ perjury would not be revealed until early March 2017 when The Washington Post reported the undisclosed Kislyak meetings. The false testimony allowed Sessions to be confirmed without senators being able to properly evaluate his conflicts of interest regarding investigations into Trump campaign-Russia connections. Sessions drew a dubious distinction between meeting Kislyak in his capacity as a Senator on the Armed Services Committee versus as a campaign surrogate—a distinction he used to justify his false testimony.

The Senate confirmed Sessions on a mostly party-line vote, installing a committed Trump loyalist who had lied about Russia contacts as the nation’s top law enforcement officer. This confirmation set up an immediate conflict when it became clear Sessions would need to oversee investigations into the very matters about which he had lied under oath.