At a press conference last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions tried to make the case that he had not perjured himself before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his in January confirmation hearing when he falsely told Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) that he had not had any contact with Russia during Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. It turns out, he convinced neither Franken nor the American public.
Sessions was more more than just a Trump supporter and surrogate; he was chairman of the campaign’s National Security Advisory Committee. Though he told Franken under oath, “I did not have communications with the Russians,” he in fact met with the Russian ambassador multiple times while he was serving in that role.
Last Thursday, Sessions averred that he had done nothing wrong, or if he had, it was okay because he didn’t intend to do so. “My reply to the question of Senator Franken was honest and correct as I understood it at the time,” he said. “I appreciate that some have taken the view that this was a false comment. That is not my intent. That is not correct.” Sessions said he would update his testimony in writing, but in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday asserted that his original statement had been correct because he did not “recall any discussions” about the campaign with the ambassador or other Russian representatives.
Franken was unconvinced. In an interview on Tuesday, he accused Sessions of lying under oath. “It’s hard to come to any other conclusion than he just perjured himself,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Franken is one of at least 151 Democratic federal lawmakers who have called on Sessions to resign in light of his false statements to Congress. Not one Republican in the House or Senate has done so.
But a survey released Wednesday finds the GOP majority is not representing the public on this issue. According to Quinnipiac University national poll, by a 52 to 40 percent majority, Americans believe that Attorney General Sessions lied under oath during his confirmation hearings. By a 51 to 42 majority, they also say he should resign from the office.
So far, President Trump has publicly stood by his embattled attorney general. He tweeted last week that Sessions is an “honest man” who “did not say anything wrong,” though he “could have stated his response more accurately.”
Jeff Sessions is an honest man. He did not say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017
…intentional. This whole narrative is a way of saving face for Democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017
…to win. The Democrats are overplaying their hand. They lost the election, and now they have lost their grip on reality. The real story…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017
Sessions’ Russia comment was not the only time Franken caught him giving false testimony during the January confirmation process. During the hearing, the Minnesota Democrat noted that in his written questionnaire, Sessions had claimed major credit for multiple civil rights prosecutions in which he played almost no actual role.