{"id":67471,"date":"2017-03-03T17:23:51","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T21:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=67471"},"modified":"2017-03-03T17:23:51","modified_gmt":"2017-03-03T21:23:51","slug":"its-time-to-mount-a-robust-defense-of-attorney-general-jeff-sessions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=67471","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Time To Mount a Robust Defense of Attorney General Jeff Sessions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"selectionShareable\"><!--more-->By Jay Sekulow<br \/>\nACLJ<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">There is a ruthless, coordinated attempt by those on the Left \u2013 in Congress, in the mainstream media, and in the bureaucracy \u2013 to undermine and undercut President Trump. First it\u2019s a leak. Then a deceptive smear. And finally an all-out assault intended to hinder and even remove from office senior Trump Administration officials.\u00a0 The latest attack is no exception.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">Make no mistake. This is a calculated hit job against Attorney General Jeff Sessions designed to subvert President Trump\u2019s agenda and preserve Obama\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">As a lawyer I deal with evidence, so let\u2019s look at the facts. Senator Al Franken made the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/politics\/wp\/2017\/03\/02\/what-jeff-sessions-said-about-russia-and-when\/?utm_term=.0c5b8a651c32\" target=\"_blank\">following statement<\/a> and posed the connected question to then-Senator Jeff Sessions during his confirmation hearing on January 10, 2017:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">FRANKEN: CNN just published a story alleging that the intelligence community provided documents to the president-elect last week, that included information that \u201cRussian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump.\u201d These documents also allegedly say \u201cthere was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government.\u201d Again, I\u2019m telling you this as it\u2019s coming out, so, you know.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">But if it\u2019s true, it\u2019s obviously extremely serious, and if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do?<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">SESSIONS: Senator Franken, I\u2019m not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians, and I\u2019m unable to comment on it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">FRANKEN: Very well.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\" align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/standalone\/?c4659311\" width=\"512\" height=\"330\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">A week later, on January 17th, Senator Leahy asked Senator Sessions in a written questionnaire whether he had been \u201cin contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after election day?\u201d Senator Sessions replied simply, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">While the Left will continue to distort and twist these facts, the facts are very simple. Attorney General Sessions interacted with the Russian Ambassador in his capacity as a U.S. Senator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">This isn\u2019t a headline or a scandal; this is the routine job responsibility of a U.S. Senator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">It is irrefutable that Attorney General Sessions\u2019 answers to Senator Al Franken\u2019s question and Senator Leahy\u2019s question are legally accurate. Asked if the Trump campaign had coordinated with the Russian government, he answered that as a surrogate for the Trump campaign, he had not. The idea that a sitting Senator and senior member on the Senate Armed Services Committee would not have had any contact with the Russian Ambassador in furtherance of his official duties as a U.S. Senator is frankly absurd.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">Senators of both parties including Senators who have attacked his integrity, have a long history of routinely meeting with numerous ambassadors, <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/AlexPappas\/status\/837376403607793665\" target=\"_blank\">including the Russian Ambassador.<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/claire-mccaskill-tweets-contradictory-statements-about-russian-ambassador-meetings-2017-3\" target=\"_blank\">Senator Claire McCaskill<\/a> and at least <a href=\"http:\/\/twitchy.com\/samj-3930\/2017\/03\/02\/oopsie-up-to-30-democrats-should-resign-for-meeting-with-russian-diplomats-in-2015\/\" target=\"_blank\">30 Senate Democrats<\/a> have had contact with Russian officials over the past several years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">The feigned outrage from the Left is nonsense. It is a coordinated attack on the sitting Attorney General.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">Attorney General Sessions is an honorable man, a true public servant, and a great American patriot. It\u2019s time to defend him from the smug besmirching of partisan radicals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">It\u2019s also incredibly troubling that these lies and manipulations have taken root in the shadow government initiated by Obama loyalists. The continued leak of classified information is damaging to our national security and our constitutional Republic.\u00a0 It is no coincidence that the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/03\/01\/us\/politics\/obama-trump-russia-election-hacking.html\" target=\"_blank\">news broke<\/a> today of a coordinated effort by the Obama Administration in its final hours to widely distribute classified information. It paved the way for subversive sabotage of the Trump Administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">The hit job on Attorney General Sessions is a direct result of that deep state intrigue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">It must be exposed and it must end.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">We\u2019ve already submitted one Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request to the bureaucracy to expose and stop the shadow government.\u00a0 We just sent a new FOIA request to both the <a href=\"http:\/\/media.aclj.org\/pdf\/FOIARequest-DOJOPA-3-2-17_Redacted.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Department of Justice (DOJ)<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/media.aclj.org\/pdf\/FOIARequest-FBI-3-2-17_Redacted.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">the FBI<\/a> for any communications between those offices and Senator Al Franken or his staff. The American people deserve to know the truth about this apparent set-up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">Attorney General Sessions is a man above reproach and has determined to recuse himself from any potential investigation of the campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">It\u2019s time to defend Attorney General Sessions and expose and defeat the shadow government and its operatives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"selectionShareable\">___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/aclj.org\/constitution\/its-time-to-mount-a-robust-defense-of-attorney-general-jeff-sessions?sf53017265=1\">http:\/\/aclj.org\/constitution\/its-time-to-mount-a-robust-defense-of-attorney-general-jeff-sessions?sf53017265=1<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}