Sessions Was Advised Not to Disclose Russia Meetings on Security Forms

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions failed to disclose meetings with Russian officials when he applied for security clearance because he was told not to do so by advisers and the F.B.I., a Justice Department spokesman said Wednesday.

Mr. Sessions met with Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, at least twice in 2016. But asked on an official government form to note any contact he or family members had with foreign governments or their representatives over the past seven years, Mr. Sessions did not include his encounters with Mr. Kislyak. It is a federal crime to make false statements or withhold relevant information on the background check form.

“As a United States senator, the attorney general met hundreds — if not thousands — of foreign dignitaries and their staff,” Ian Prior, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said in a statement. “The attorney general’s staff consulted with those familiar with the process, as well as the F.B.I. investigator handling the background check, and was instructed not to list meetings with foreign dignitaries and their staff connected with his Senate activities.”

Mr. Sessions filled out two such forms, Mr. Prior said, one last July, as he was first formally vetted by the Trump campaign, and one after the election in November.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/24/us/politics/jeff-sessions-russia.html

---

Awkward!

[dem4decades]

1. Could he go to jail please, a private one too.

[manicraven]

2. The FBI told Sessions not to disclose meetings with Russian officials?

Attorney General Jeff Sessions failed to disclose meetings with Russian officials when he applied for security clearance because he was told not to do so by advisers and the F.B.I., a Justice Department spokesman said Wednesday.

[furtheradu]

5. Huh.

We believe this cuz..? Who~ at FBI~ said this?
hmmmm. I have NO reason to believe sessions.
At all. Ever.
Freakin JERK.
Can't wait till he is sent away to the big house.
JUSTICE, Baby!

[Achilleaze]

23. One of his republican underlings

Old Man Achilleaze would never accept the "he told me to do it" excuse. That would only piss him off even more.

"I suppose if I told you to go jump in the lake," he would respond, "you'd be dumb enough to do it."

OK, pop.

[ATL Ebony]

17. It shouldn't matter who advised, he knowingly and willingly LIED!

So he knew he was committing a crime but lied anyway?? LOCK HIM UP

[Tanuki]

21. Yeah, like on an income tax form, they make it clear that

even if you had help preparing it, your signature attests to it being true and correct. You can't pin the blame on someone else. Jeff Sessions knows better than try to pull a silly "somebody told me to do it this way" defense.

[former9thward]

26. No and no.

You commit fraud when you knowingly and intentional deceive the IRS. If a professional prepares your return and makes an error you have committed no crime by signing it. You certainly can rely on advice from the FBI when filing out national security forms.

[Tanuki]

31. Per IRS

https://www.irs.gov/uac/tax-return-preparer-fraud-2
Tax Return Preparer Fraud
FS-2008-10, January 2008
Return preparer fraud generally involves the preparation and filing of false income tax returns by preparers who claim inflated personal or business expenses, false deductions, unallowable credits or excessive exemptions on returns prepared for their clients. Preparers may manipulate income figures to fraudulently obtain tax credits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit.
"In some situations, the client, or taxpayer, may not have knowledge of the false expenses, deductions, exemptions and/or credits shown on his or her tax return.
However, when the IRS detects the false return, the taxpayer — not the return preparer — must pay the additional taxes and interest and may be subject to penalties.
The IRS Return Preparer Program focuses on enhancing compliance in the return-preparer community by investigating and referring criminal activity by return preparers to the Department of Justice for prosecution and/or asserting appropriate civil penalties against unscrupulous return preparers.
While most preparers provide excellent service to their clients, the IRS urges taxpayers to be very careful when choosing a tax preparer. Taxpayers should be as careful as they would be in choosing a doctor or a lawyer. It is important to know that even if someone else prepares a tax return, it is the taxpayer who is ultimately responsible for all the information on the tax return."

[former9thward]

37. I guess you don't read what you post.

Of course you are responsible for additional taxes if someone does not fill out your return properly. But it is not a criminal matter. Try again.

[Tanuki]

40. If you are in collusion with the "advisor" and know damn well you are omitting

critical information, as appears to be the case AG Sessions, it would certainly be a criminal matter. Spare me your unearned condescension next time. It has worn thin.

[atreides1]

34. No

Standard Form 86 (SF-86), requires full disclosure.


https://www.gsa.gov/portal/forms/download/116390


Also, his meetings with Kisylak were done in his position as a Trump campaign adviser, not as a sitting Senator!

[former9thward]

38. I know what a SF-86 requires. I have filled them out myself.

I also know that you follow the directions of the people who vet the forms. I don't know what the position of Session's was in the meetings. That is a state of mind and only one person knows that. It is impossible for a prosecutor to prove any differently.

[ATL Ebony]

45. A lie is a lie and collusion is collusion - PERIOD!

He knew he would be committing a crime, so what they agreed for him to lie and commit collusion -- he was still a US Senator with judicial background and absolutely knew better. You can't dress it up in a nice little box with a pretty bow. By asking if he should omit the contacts he was pretty much asking for cover if he lied -- they (whoever else is involved) colluded. LOCK HIM UP.

[Maeve]

33. An FBI agent is NOT 'the' FBI

WHO told him that? 'Some guy who works over there'??? I don't think so!

[MiddleClass]

53. Write this one up and investigate what happened

Place it on the top of the ongoing investigations of the Trump presidency mounting pile.

Day 126, 11 massive scandals, 22 major scandals, 44 big scandals, 49 scandals, (exaggeration for effect)
next, the FBI will be bigger than social security


. I say, investigate, find out exactly what was said by whom, in what capacity, and fire, or suspend accordingly.

Write a public report and let the people know so they can make up their mind on what to do next election

[Eyeball_Kid]

41. The dog ate my homework.

[FailureToCommunicate]

3. Is this being floated as a way to make Sessions be absolved of omission? Or walk him deeper into

the muck?

[greyl]

4. Sessions repeatedly denied it in open hearings, too. Gimme a break, Prior. nt

[ATL Ebony]

46. Absolutely a certified criminal.

[magicarpet]

48. Yes but..... Yes but...

..... At the congressional hearings a senator whispered in Session's ear that Russian contacts were exempt from having to be mentioned during his testimony because he was only playing a friendly game of chess with Kislyak and was in no way colluding with the Russians to trash the presidential election and rig it in favor of tr-dump. Jeff is a good boy, a law abiding citizen, and sang in the church choir. End of story.

[njhoneybadger]

51. I guess they forgot about that.

[Freethinker65]

6. He met them as a campaign surrogate and not as a Senator. That is why Trump chose him for AG.

Sessions lied to Franken and lied on his clearance documents. Unfortunately, proving it may be difficult to near impossible.

[uponit7771]

20. +1, the wording " connected with his Senate activities" is the key here ... Sessions still bold face

... lied

[Calista241]

24. The meetings we know about were on capital hill in his Senate offices.

With his Senate aides in attendance. If we're going to prove he met them as a campaign surrogate, we're going to have a little proof.

[George II]

56. Why are you sticking up for this man? Why?

[Calista241]

57. Because I think we lose credibility when people claim conspiracy about everything.

Is what Sessions did suspicious? Hell yeah. Does it warrant investigation? Yep. Is it enough to jail him, impeach him or force him into early retirement? Not even close.

[George II]

58. Sorry, I disagree. He did not fully disclose his contacts with the Russians (that's a nice way...

...of putting it, i.e., he LIED about it), which in itself would have been enough to not confirm him as Attorney General. Had he not been confirmed based on false information we would not be discussing this at all.

[Calista241]

61. I disagree. I think he absolutely would have been confirmed.

He'd have said he met with them in the course of normal Senate business. He'd have reported that he bitched and moaned to Kislyak about the war in Ukraine, and possibly even Iran or Syria. Maybe they even discussed Israel.

Every Republican up there would have reported their own meetings with various ambassadors about whatever various topics. They'd have pointed to twitter messages, public schedules, maybe even some photos from Democrats meeting with different ambassadors. He'd still have gotten 52 votes. Guaranteed.

[George II]

62. I guess I'm not a Sessions, and de facto trump, apologist.

[Calista241]

63. Neither am I. Just a realist.

[pnwmom]

7. So who was this mystery FBI person who gave him false info about the forms?

Why shouldn't he have listed all his foreign contacts, just like everyone else who fills them out?

Did the same person tell him not to bother mentioning these contacts at his Senate confirmation hearings?

[LeftInTX]

12. That is what Jeffery Toobin wanted to know

[NCjack]

52. Pres. Obama did it -- disguised as FBI agent. (Everyone knows

it's Obama's fault.)

[pecosbob]

8. The FBI told him to lie on a federal form?

Reminds me of 'Major Horton told you to cut that fence?'

[Merlot]

10. That strains credibility

We'll need to find this FBI agent who advises lying on back ground check forms.

This sink hole keeps getting bigger.

[Qutzupalotl]

11. NY field office? I wonder.

That was my first thought when I heard FBI. Someone is compromised there, probably several.

[uponit7771]

18. +1

[Eyeball_Kid]

42. Doesn't matter. The little twerp lied and it's a felony.

[elmac]

13. Yep, those tRumpsters are pretty gullible.

[still_one]

28. Exactly. That was the Nuremberg defense, I was only following orders. Session's

by lying on that form has committed a crime, and is subject to a fine, and possible imprisonment for up to five years

[Dream Girl]

9. He should have reported the person who told him to lie

[still_one]

30. He shouldn't have falsefied the form. He is in violation of federal law

[VigilantG]

14. I'm sorry! Sessions is supposedly the top Attorney in our nation...

He knows what he should have disclosed! I am so tired of this Administration getting cut slack because they're new or not experienced or not politicians!!!

Jeff Sessions gets NO leniency--he should be scrutinized even more--held to THE standard of being an attorney!

[eggplant]

15. Hey, sometimes you get bad advice. Doesn't absolve you of guilt.

Even a bad attorney knows that.

[Eyeball_Kid]

43. Anyone associated with Trumpy is awash in lies.

[OnDoutside]

16. Ignorance isn't a defense. Especially from a lawyer.

[C_U_L8R]

27. Especially from the Attorney General

[uponit7771]

19. Yeah, here's the stinger ".... connected with his Senate activities.... "

[DeminPennswoods]

22. This

“The attorney general’s staff consulted with those familiar with the process, as well as the F.B.I. investigator handling the background check, and was instructed not to list meetings with foreign dignitaries and their staff connected with his Senate activities.”

We know this is a lie. Sessions met with Kislyak in his capacity as a Trump campaign advisor, not as part of his "Senate activities". It's why he had to amend his confirmation hearing testimony since he tried that same "senate activities" line there and it didn't fly.

[Calista241]

25. The two meetings we know about, both happened in his Senate offices on capital hill.

His Senatorial aides were in attendance. If we are going to say he was acting as a campaign surrogate at the time, we're going to have to present a little proof.

And we're also going to have to ask if other Senators did the same thing, both Repub and Dem.

[tammywammy]

35. One meeting happened at the GOP Convention and one in his office. n/t

[Eyeball_Kid]

44. That's true.

[livetohike]

29. Were his advisors Jared and Ivanka? The tight cabal

in the White House will be passing notes to one another in prison.

[Vinca]

32. Well, if he's such a sap he takes advice that amounts to committing a crime, what the heck

is he doing in his position in the first place??

[KewlKat]

49. i love your logic!

[MGKrebs]

36. Let's see his emails!

[beachbum bob]

39. purposeful errors of ommissions is considered the same as lying, except when conservatives do it

I guess.

I would have my secret classifications revoked and faced charges if I done anything like this when I was in the military

[Maxheader]

47. Per Sessons orders..

Using the harshest methods available for both the investigation
and the penalty...
Cuz jeffy would want it that way....

[Sunlei]

50. This man knows better. He lied several times!

[niyad]

54. "thousands of foreign dignitaries". . . . . really? busy boy, eh?

[yurbud]

55. I don't think Russia should be our adversary, but these guys trying to cover it up...

sure as hell makes it seem something wrong was going on.

If they had contacts with Israel, Britain, or India, I assume they wouldn't hesitate to mention it unless they worked as a foreign lobbyist.

[WinkyDink]

60. Well, Russia IS. Russian oligarchs would love to destroy Western democracies. Why else do you think

Putin's Puppet threatens NATO leaders and calls modern Germany "evil"?

[yurbud]

66. How do you think they got the oligarchs? Our banks told the collapsing Soviet Union to privatize

everything or no loans.

[yurbud]

67. Russia's military budget is a sixth of ours and their economy is a seventh.

[yurbud]

68. Trump is a fuckwit, and if the Russians bought him, they are probably looking for the receipt

to get a refund.

[WinkyDink]

59. I don't believe any of this claim. NO FBI guy would have so advised; and NO "Justice Department

spokesman" would say anything remotely like this, either.

"...he was told not to do so by (unnamed) advisers and the (vague, non-individual) F.B.I., a(n) unnamed) Justice Department spokesman said Wednesday."

Credible. Not.

[xxqqqzme]

64. At one time, like in 2016,

an Attorney General was called the top lawman of the country. As such, jeffy beau has now lied TWICE.. Why he was not forced to resign after lying at his confirmation hearing can only be chalked up to IOKIYAR.


Thirty or 40 years ago, in some states, a law school graduate from a state university law school was exempt from taking the bar. That graduate could go straight into practice. I know some southern states and a few western states did this. Wonder if jeffy beau ever had to take a bar exam?

[bigtime]

65. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is a lawyer, he knows very well what the law means

He must have a lot to hide if he's going to cringe beneath the figleaf of "i got bad advice". Ooh what a liar.