A former White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush thinks Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ “misleading” testimony during his confirmation hearing could land him in jail.
“Misleading the Senate in sworn testimony about one own contacts with the Russians is a good way to go to jail,” Richard W. Painter tweeted late Wednesday.
On CNN Thursday morning, Painter said he thinks Sessions should resign.
“Based on what I heard thus far, I don’t think he can continue as Attorney General,” he said. “I don’t think he was truthful with the Senate. He did not provide full and complete information.”
“Based on what I’m hearing so far, yes,” Painter said when asked if Sessions should resign.
Misleading the Senate in sworn testimony about one own contacts with the Russians is a good way to go to jail https://t.co/qH0s6sTMJ9
— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) March 2, 2017
The former chief ethics lawyer was responding to a Washington Post report that said Sessions met twice with Russia’s ambassador to the United States during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
One of the meetings was a private conversation between Sessions and Sergey Kislyak in the senator’s office.
During his confirmation hearing, Sessions told his Senate colleagues, “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.”
Sarah Isgur Flores, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said “there was absolutely nothing misleading about his answer” because the conversations with Kislyak were about senatorial issues, not campaign ones.
After the Washington Post story dropped, the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. investigators have examined the contact Sessions had with Russian officials during the campaign.
