Voice of America. WASHINGTON — The Washington Post is reporting that Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. told his supervisors in Moscow that he discussed campaign-related matters with Attorney General Jeff Sessions last year during the presidential election season, contrary to what Sessions has said.
The Post quoted “current and former U.S. officials” in its story, which said U.S. intelligence agents intercepted communications from Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to his superiors about the meetings.
Sessions said in his February confirmation hearing before the Senate that he did not recall having any contact with Russian officials while acting as a Trump foreign policy adviser last year.
In March, news reports revealed that Sessions had met at least twice with Kislyak: once in April 2016, before Donald Trump, then a Republican presidential candidate, gave a foreign policy speech, and again in July, on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention.
At that time, Sessions amended his earlier comments to say they had met, but had not discussed the Trump campaign in their meetings, and he secured himself from any investigations into Russian interference in the election.
The Post quotes one U.S. official as saying Sessions has provided “misleading” statements that are “contradicted by other evidence.” A former official told the Post that the two men had “substantive” discussions, including Trump’s positions on issues affecting Russia and what U.S.-Russia relations would look like under a Trump administration.
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