Is Att'y Gen. Jeff Sessions About to Commit Perjury? [View all]

[DonViejo]

Is Att’y Gen. Jeff Sessions About to Commit Perjury?

By Ryan Goodman
Monday, June 12, 2017 at 8:05 AM

Following James Comey’s hearing on Capitol Hill, the Department of Justice issued a statement which flatly contradicts something that Comey said in his testimony. It appears that Comey and Jeff Sessions have directly opposing positions on how the Attorney General responded when Comey says he implored Sessions to prevent the president from directly communicating with him as FBI director. It is increasingly common these days for the administration to include a falsehood in an official statement. Repeating that falsehood under oath before Congress is an entirely different matter. It’s a federal crime. And these proceedings have a special counsel looking over them.

What to watch for next: On Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions will appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee. If he repeats a claim that is contained in the Department of Justice’s “Statement on Testimony of Former FBI Director James Comey,” it is very likely that Sessions will commit perjury or a felony false statement or misrepresentation (which does not require being under oath).

Whether in open or closed session, all it may take is a lawmaker essentially asking the Attorney General whether he stands by the statement released by the Justice Department with respect to a significant interaction between Comey and Sessions. (I’d also recommend he be asked how sure he is of his own recollection.) The question revolves around what Comey told Sessions on the need to prevent direct communications from the President and how Sessions responded.

The Valentine’s Day meeting
On February 14, following an intelligence briefing in the Oval Office, the President asked everyone in the room, including the Attorney General, to leave so that the he could meet alone with Comey. It was then that Trump spoke to Comey about Michael Flynn. None of those facts are in dispute.

What Comey told Sessions
On the following day, February 15, Comey says that he implored Sessions to prevent the President from ever again having bilateral communications with the FBI director. In his written prepared testimony, Comey states:

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https://www.justsecurity.org/42012/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-commit-perjury/