‘I have decided to recuse myself’: Other views
What Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other people are saying about him.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions: “I never had meetings with Russian operatives or Russian intermediaries about the Trump campaign. And the idea that I was part of a ‘continuing exchange of information’ during the campaign between Trump surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government is totally false. That is the question that Sen. Al Franken asked me at the hearing. ... I did not respond by referring to the two meetings, one very brief after a speech, and one with two of my senior staffers ... with the Russian ambassador in Washington, where no such things were discussed. ... My reply to the question of Sen. Franken was honest and correct as I understood it at the time. ... I have decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for president.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan: “Democrats are lighting their hair on fire to get (journalists) to cover this story … which keeps repeating the same story. ... The House Intelligence Committee just finished coming up with its oversight plan to continue investigations. We will always make sure that we are protecting our sources and methods and getting to the bottom of any of these things, but we have seen no evidence, been presented with no evidence that anybody on the Trump campaign or an American was involved in colluding with the Russians.”
Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review: “Was Sessions’ testimony inaccurate? Sure, especially taken out of context. But was it perjurious? Not even close. The context, established by Franken’s questioning, elucidates that when Sessions denied communications with Russians, he was denying that he had spoken with Russian officials as a Trump surrogate.”
Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice: “ Sessions was never thoroughly vetted, and now it appears that the omissions and obfuscations in the paperwork he submitted for his nomination were followed by outright perjury during his confirmation hearing. Sessions should resign immediately. And senators should redouble their efforts to make sure this administration’s nominees do not skate through the confirmation process without the utmost scrutiny of their records, associations and histories.”