Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ claim that he opposed a proposal for President Trump’s campaign team to meet with Russians is being contradicted by people who have spoken about the matter with special counsel Robert Mueller, or with congressional committees.
Sessions testified before Congress in November 2017 he “pushed back” against a proposal for the campaign to meet with Russian officials made by former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos at a March 31, 2016, campaign meeting.
Three people who attended the March campaign meeting told Reuters Sessions expressed no objections to Papadopoulos’ idea.
Another meeting attendee, J.D. Gordon, who was the Trump campaign’s director of national security, has said Sessions strongly opposed Papadopoulos’ proposal. Gordon stood by his account in a new statement to Reuters.
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in October to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his Russia contacts and is now cooperating with Mueller as he probes Russia’s 2016 election interference, and the Trump campaign’s potential involvement.
