Dem lawmaker: Sessions ‘absolutely’ committed perjury and should resign

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) said Friday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions “absolutely” committed perjury in his Senate testimony regarding contact between President Trump’s campaign and Russian officials.

“He lied under oath at least twice and most recently, both Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, based on their testimony and their statements, they show that Jeff Sessions contradicted himself when he said he was not aware of any campaign official talking to the Russians,” Lieu said in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

Lieu said Sessions should resign from his post because “the top law enforcement official in the United States cannot have committed a crime and still be there.”

{mosads}“He committed perjury. He should not be in that position,” Lieu said.

In testimony before the Senate in June, Sessions said he did not “recall” any meetings between campaign associates and Russian officials.

But Page, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, claimed Thursday in testimony to House investigators that he informed Sessions about a trip he was taking to Russia during the 2016 campaign.

“Back in June 2016, I mentioned in passing that I happened to be planning to give a speech at a university in Moscow,” Page told CNN. “Completely unrelated to my limited volunteer role with the campaign and as I’ve done dozens of times throughout my life.”

Papadopoulos, another Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, suggested during a campaign meeting in March 2016 that he had “connections that could help arrange a meeting” between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sessions was present at that meeting, and former campaign adviser J.D. Gordon told The New York Times that Sessions opposed the idea, “and he said no one should talk about” the proposed meeting because Sessions did not want the idea associated with the Trump campaign.

Papadopoulos is one of three former Trump aides indicted as a result of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty of lying to FBI agents.