After questions regarding his relationship with Russian officials were raised, Sessions, then an Alabama Senator during the presidential race, stated that he would recuse himself from the investigation into the possible meddling from Russia.
As written for Fox News:
The Justice Department hit back Friday night at a report citing anonymous sources who said Attorney General Jeff Sessions discussed sensitive matters with a Russian official during last year’s presidential race ins spite of his subsequent testimony that he did not.
The Washington Post, citing unnamed current and former officials, reported that Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak claimed he discussed the 2016 campaign with Sessions during the race, possibly contradicting the attorney general’s public comments about his interactions with Russian officials, according to a Washington Post report Friday.
According to the Post, Kislyak told his superiors in Russia that he discussed the presidential campaign and issues of importance to his country with Sessions. The outlet said the ambassador’s conversations with his bosses were picked up by U.S. spy agencies.
As reported by The Washington Post:
Russia’s ambassador to Washington told his superiors in Moscow that he discussed campaign-related matters, including policy issues important to Moscow, with Jeff Sessions during the 2016 presidential race, contrary to public assertions by the embattled attorney general, according to current and former U.S. officials.
Ambassador Sergey Kislyak’s accounts of two conversations with Sessions — then a top foreign policy adviser to Republican candidate Donald Trump — were intercepted by U.S. spy agencies, which monitor the communications of senior Russian officials both in the United States and in Russia. Sessions initially failed to disclose his contacts with Kislyak and then said that the meetings were not about the Trump campaign.
One U.S. official said that Sessions — who testified that he has no recollection of an April encounter — has provided “misleading” statements that are “contradicted by other evidence.” A former official said that the intelligence indicates that Sessions and Kislyak had “substantive” discussions on matters including Trump’s positions on Russia-related issues and prospects for U.S.-Russia relations in a Trump administration.