Senator Elizabeth Warren has been quick to point out the improprieties of President Donald Trump’s hand-picked cabinet members. And the latest individual to wind up in Senator Warren’s crosshairs is Attorney General Jeff Sessions. On Wednesday, March 1st, details came to light revealing that Sessions lied under oath during his confirmation hearing about having contact with a Russian ambassador during the presidential campaign.
Warren immediately responded a Twitter smackdown.
It's a simple q: "Have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election?"
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 2, 2017
Jeff Sessions answered “No.” Turns out he met with the Russian Ambassador. Two months before the election.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 2, 2017
Now Jeff Sessions is AG – the final say on the law enforcement investigation into ties between the Trump campaign & Russia? What a farce.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 2, 2017
This is not normal. This is not fake news. This is a very real & serious threat to the national security of the United States.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 2, 2017
We need a special prosecutor totally independent of the AG. We need a real, bipartisan, transparent Congressional investigation into Russia.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 2, 2017
And we need Attorney General Jeff Sessions – who should have never been confirmed in the first place – to resign. We need it now.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 2, 2017
The circus that is the Trump administration continues to unravel. Just days after the resignation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, Attorney General Sessions now faces an allegation that he lied to the Senate while under oath at his confirmation hearing. Sessions was asked whether or not he had contact with Sergei Kislyak, a Russian Ambassador that some lawmakers have referred to as Russia’s top spy in the United States.
Sessions claimed that he had no contact with Kislvak during the campaign. The Washington Post has reported that Sessions did indeed have two meetings with Kislvak. If this is true, Sessions committed a serious crime by lying to Congress.
Senator Elizabeth Warren was quick to fire the first rounds in what will undoubtedly be an attack on Sessions’ integrity. The Massachusetts Democrat used her Twitter account to demand Sessions resign his newly-appointed post.
According to Warren, what Sessions did is a “farce” and represents “a very real threat to the United States.” Her call for Sessions’ resignation was quickly followed by more tweets that called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the ties of Trump’s administration to Russia. Warren and others contend that Sessions cannot conduct such an investigation himself given his lies to Congress about his own involvement.
On Thursday, more Democrats including Nancy Pelosi also called for Sessions to resign. Sessions has released a statement that evokes Trump’s own method of dealing with allegations. The Attorney General has denied the reports and blamed the media for creating fake news.
It doesn’t seem that Sessions will be able to extricate himself from this mess. If it is proven that he lied to Congress about his contacts with Russian officials, resignation may be the least of his worries. Sessions could be charged with a crime and sent to jail. At any rate, the administration now has another fire to put out.
As expected, President Trump on Thursday acknowledged his complete support of Jeff Sessions and stands by the Attorney General’s claims that he did nothing wrong.