Sessions discussed Trump’s campaign with Russian ambassador: Report

Embattled US Attorney General Jeff Sessions met the Russian ambassador to Washington during the 2016 presidential race and discussed President Donald Trump’s election campaign, according to a new report.

Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak told his superiors in Moscow that he discussed campaign-related matters with Sessions, contrary to public assertions by the attorney general, The Washington Post reported Friday, citing current and former US officials.

Kislyak conversations with Sessions, who was a senator from Alabama and a foreign policy adviser to Trump when he was the Republican presidential candidate last year, were intercepted by US spy agencies, one US official told the newspaper.

Sessions initially failed to disclose his contacts with Kislyak during his Senate confirmation hearing last year and later said that the meetings were not about the Trump campaign.

The former US senator had three encounters with Kislyak, including one at his Senate office and another at a Mayflower Hotel in Washington, where then-candidate Trump delivered his first major foreign policy address.

Sessions has provided “misleading” statements that are “contradicted by other evidence,” one US official said.

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The intelligence from US spy agencies indicates that Sessions and Kislyak had “substantive” discussions on issues including Trump’s stance on Russian policies and the future of US-Russia relations in a Trump administration.

Sessions has repeatedly denied discussing election-related issues with Russian officials. “I never had meetings with Russian operatives or Russian intermediaries about the Trump campaign,” Sessions said in March.

Session announced in March that he would recuse himself from matters related to the Justice Department’s investigation of alleged Russian interference in the election and any connections to the Trump campaign.

Trump’s criticism of Sessions this week has fueled speculation that the attorney general would be fired or would resign. In an interview with The New York Times published on Wednesday, Trump said he would have picked somebody else if he had known Sessions was going to recuse himself from the Russia probe.

A special counsel as well as several congressional committees are investigating whether the Russian government coordinated with Trump's associates during the 2016 campaign and transition.

The US intelligence community has accused Russia of running a series of high-profile cyber attacks to change the outcome of the November 8 presidential election in favor of Trump.

Trump has repeatedly rejected such reports and has expressed support for improving relations with the US’ former Cold War foe.

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