美国国家公共电台 NPR For Attorney General Sessions, Hill Testimony Presents Risk And Opportunity

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

When the history of President Trump 1's administration is written, it will have to include space for the story of Jeff Sessions. The Alabama senator was one of the few mainstream 2 politicians to back Trump early. He then left his Senate seat, triggering Alabama's special election and the nomination 3 of Roy Moore. Sessions became Trump's attorney general. He recused himself from the investigation 4 of Russian efforts to support Trump, a recusal that has infuriated his boss. Yet Sessions is still questioned about his own contacts with Russians, and he will face more questions at a House hearing today.

It's been revealed that Sessions himself chaired a campaign meeting where an aide discussed efforts to arrange contacts between Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin. NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson has been covering all of this. Hi, Carrie.

CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE 5: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: So how does that latest news of that meeting match up with what Sessions has previously 6 said under oath?

JOHNSON: Well, it seems to contradict some previous statements by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. George Papadopoulos in the course of his guilty plea documents said he proposed arranging a conversation between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at that campaign meeting on March 31, 2016. Both Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions attended that meeting, were photographed sitting at the table with Papadopoulos. And another person at the table that day, a guy named J.D. Gordon, has told reporters he does remember Papadopoulos floating the idea of some kind of conversation between Trump and Putin.

But Gordon says that Jeff Sessions shot down the idea, which is confusing because at a couple of points this year, at least under oath, Sessions has said he's not aware of communications between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. He said he didn't know that anyone had talks with Russians as surrogates for Trump. So the attorney general is really going to be walking a tightrope 7 here, Steve, reckoning his inability to remember these events with his denials about Russian outreach to the Trump campaign last year.

INSKEEP: This story is sounding familiar, Carrie, because didn't Jeff Sessions face an embarrassment 8 earlier in the year when it was revealed that he had met with a Russian ambassador? And he had to explain that he didn't think that that was campaign related or was serious. But of course this time, he's got a meeting that he didn't seem to remember that was explicitly 9 part of the campaign, right?

JOHNSON: For people close to Jeff Sessions, this is a mark of how busy he was and how, in their view, insignificant 10 some of these people were with whom he was meeting. For Democrats 12 and other folks who are more alarmed by the allegations concerning Russia, this is too many things, they say, to keep forgetting, and there has to be some kind of accounting 13 of that in his testimony 14 today, in his conversation with the American public.

INSKEEP: OK, so we mentioned that Sessions has recused himself from overseeing the Russia investigation which his boss has said repeatedly he's unhappy about. And the president has gone on to make more recent remarks that he's frustrated 15 that as president of the United States, he's not supposed to interfere 16 with the workings of the Justice Department. That's the way it's always been. He wishes it weren't that way and wishes there were things he could do. Could that be part of today's discussion?

JOHNSON: Yeah. For Democrats and Justice Department veterans of both political parties, these boundaries with the White House are a real worry. There's a lot of examples, Steve. And in fact, President Trump has said repeatedly he wants the Justice Department to investigate his political opponent Hillary Clinton. Last night on the eve of this hearing, the Justice Department said they have directed senior federal prosecutors 17 to evaluate whether they should name another special counsel to investigate what they call, quote, alleged 18 unlawful dealings at the Clinton Foundation or elsewhere.

Now, this letter will give Republicans a way to change the subject from Russia at the hearing and also help Sessions ingratiate himself with his boss. Remember; Jeff Sessions is supposed to be recused from anything regarding Hillary Clinton because of his close campaign ties to Donald Trump last year. And it also comes on the heels of other dust-up over DOJ independence allegations by former FBI Director James Comey that the president had asked him to go easy on an investigation of then-national security adviser 19 Mike Flynn. And new questions last week about whether President Trump or anyone else in the White House who doesn't like the reporting of CNN has put their fingers on the scales with respect to an antitrust deal involving its parent, Time Warner, and AT&T.

INSKEEP: You said Sessions is supposed to be recused. Is he recused from this decision about whether to go after Hillary Clinton?

JOHNSON: The letter from the Justice Department to congressional Republicans last night, Steve, said that these senior federal prosecutors evaluating Clinton-related allegations will be reporting to the deputy attorney general and the attorney general. If Sessions is truly recused, I would like to know more about what he's doing in that respect. And I think that will come up at the hearing today.

INSKEEP: Very briefly 20, Carrie, what do you make of another news story? Donald Trump Jr. has now affirmed that he communicated - as reported by The Atlantic, he communicated with WikiLeaks during the campaign. They were offering advice, and Trump a number of times seemed to take the advice.

JOHNSON: Well, Trump Jr. has said he exchanged a small number of messages - direct messages with WikiLeaks - but another data point here about contacts regarding emails during last year's campaign and after since WikiLeaks, according to the intelligence community, did get information and share it with people overseas with respect to Hillary Clinton and Democrat 11 emails.

INSKEEP: And I guess this week should emphasize this is related to the larger story because according to U.S. intelligence officials, WikiLeaks has cooperated or has contacts with Russia, which U.S. intelligence agencies do not like at all.

JOHNSON: Absolutely - one more point for these investigations 21 in the Congress and the special counsel to pursue.

INSKEEP: So much to follow, and NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson is following it. Carrie, thanks very much.

JOHNSON: My pleasure.