Report: Sessions, Russian Ambassador Spoke Twice During Campaign

Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak twice last year while the former was still a senator and a prominent surrogate of the Trump campaign, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. During his confirmation hearing for attorney general, Sessions did not disclose these conversations. “I’m not aware of any of those activities,” Sessions said in response to a question about communications between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.” In a written questionaire, Sessions said “no” to the question of whether he had been in contact with the Russian government regarding the 2016 campaign. (A spokesperson for Sessions said he met with Kislyak in his capacity as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and that he couldn’t remember what exactly they discussed.) Sessions now oversees the Justice Department and the FBI, which are investigating alleged Russian meddling and potential ties to the Trump camp. Sessions has resisted calls to recuse himself from the investigations. A Wall Street Journal report published late Wednesday cited sources familiar with the matter saying U.S. investigators had already looked into Sessions’s contacts with Russian officials, though it wasn’t clear if the investigation was continuing. No details were provided on the outcome of the investigation.