# Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions vs. the Senate Intelligence Committee **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 11, 2017, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667 "2017-06-11T04:10:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/101 "2017-06-13T22:08:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Fotheringay-Phipps** : > > A guy like you would, because it would be a huge deal for a guy like you. But in the context of the types of meetings that US Senators routinely have, it wouldn’t be a big deal. So, you’re saying that Sessions has so many meetings with Russians that they’re just part of the routine to him? ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/102 "2017-06-13T22:16:22Z")
I’m not sure if this was a serious question or not. But in case it is, no that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that Sessions has had so many meetings with bigwigs of various sorts and nationalities that a meeting that might seem significant and memorable to an ordinary citizen might not be nearly so memorable to him. I gave a similar example earlier of a Democratic senator declaring she had never met with the Russian ambassador and then being tripped up by the evidence. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/103 "2017-06-13T22:30:12Z")
I only heard the summary on the news, but he seemed to do well. A lot better than I expected. Or maybe it was just the Democratic Senators. I know they were trying to sound aggressive and forceful, but mostly they sounded rude; interrupting him at every opportunity and not letting him finish his sentences. Fire up the base seems to have been the order of the day. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/104 "2017-06-13T22:41:51Z")
it’s too bad we couldn’t have injected some memory-enhancing truth serum into him. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/105 "2017-06-13T22:45:20Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > it’s too bad we couldn’t have injected some memory-enhancing truth serum into him. Give it to Trump so he can remember all the times he vilified Clinton for her memory. And all the times he couldn’t remember during the Trump U. depositions. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/106 "2017-06-13T22:51:14Z")
> [@](#): > > No bombshells but the whole “I can’t talk but I can’t say exactly why except to ‘preserve executive privilege once POTUS knows what you want to know about’ thing” bothers me. It bothered me a lot; like he wanted to have it cake and eat it too. To note have executive privilege invoked, and yet still not answer any questions. Very troubling. Also “I don’t recall” a lot. > [@](#): > > I only heard the summary on the news, but he seemed to do well. A lot better than I expected. Or maybe it was just the Democratic Senators. I know they were trying to sound aggressive and forceful, but mostly they sounded rude; interrupting him at every opportunity and not letting him finish his sentences. Fire up the base seems to have been the order of the day. I thought that for a little at first (and occasionally later), but they had a _really_ good reason. They were under a time limit (each only had a few minutes). He gave two paragraph answers, often not actually answering the question and talking on not-really-related things. Even when he was told “yes or no answer” with a “to your knowledge” question (meaning “no” means “not that I know of” instead of "impossible), he _still_ did not just answer “yes” or “no” - on several occasions it seemed like he was very much trying to “run down the clock” and make sure they didn’t have time to ask all their questions. And he interrupted the questioner a few times, too. I thought Rubio and Harris did okay. McCain better than expected. Wyden and Cotton were not good. King and Henrich were really good. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/107 "2017-06-13T23:11:17Z")
I’m going to spend the next week or so just doing my thing and _remembering_ things and feeling really proud of myself. Thanks, Sessions, for my newfound pride! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/108 "2017-06-13T23:12:59Z")
The guy has a law degree, right? And you expect him to answer in “yes or no”? Those guys spend beaucoup bucks to learn best how NOT to do that. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/109 "2017-06-13T23:15:57Z")
You’d think it wouldn’t seem so obvious. Can’t recall, my ass. ETA It was as subtle as Chappelle pleading the Fifth: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/gZg7RKPsc-E/maxresdefault.jpg "Fiiif Chappelle Show Fifth Amedment720P") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZg7RKPsc-E) ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/110 "2017-06-13T23:18:49Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The guy has a law degree, right? And you expect him to answer in “yes or no”? Those guys spend beaucoup bucks to learn best how NOT to do that. Comey answered simply _yes_ or _no_ plenty of times. The difference? He had nothing to hide. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/111 "2017-06-13T23:48:42Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Comey answered simply _yes_ or _no_ plenty of times. The difference? He had nothing to hide. You are, no doubt, correct. But just to be clear, I was speaking about the general case and did not to mean that to be a blanket statement. Just that it should be no real surprise. To rephrase: Lawyer dodges “yes or no” question. News at 11. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/112 "2017-06-14T00:20:38Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > You are, no doubt, correct. But just to be clear, I was speaking about the general case and did not to mean that to be a blanket statement. Just that it should be no real surprise. To rephrase: Lawyer dodges “yes or no” question. News at 11. Aye but what bothered me most, as I said, was his method of dodging. As you say, I didn’t expect him to answer every question. But his given reason for not answering was terrible, IMO and I did think that Sen. King especially demolished it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/113 "2017-06-14T00:55:11Z")
Completely expected outcome, a big nothing burger. The Committee let Stonewall Sessions get away with asserting his phantom privilege. Risch did everything he could to smooth the way for him, and Lankford, Cotton, and Cornyn sounded like his criminal defense team, with Cotton going full-Monty partisan. Cornyn only went into the reasons for Comey’s firing, completely ignoring that the issue was Sessions’ involvement in the decision, not the reasons for it. Meanwhile, of course, all the Trump mouthpieces are proclaiming victory, how great and above reproach Sessions is, how the whole thing is a fabrication, blah blah blah. Seems I saw something entirely different. We learned nothing new whatsoever, with the minor exception of corroborating some of Comey’s testimony. I find it interesting that Sessions got all righteously indignant, though. That’s usually a pretty solid indicator of guilt. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/114 "2017-06-14T01:02:06Z")
Sessions has always struck me as an odd duck. He has a comically evil face and is constantly looking as though he is half-heartedly attempting to conceal the outright glee he feels at the prospect of lying on camera. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/115 "2017-06-14T01:24:36Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > I agree. > > As I observed earlier, any time you have politicians conducting hearings in front of cameras, the whole thing is just political theater. > > This was especially evident in Sessions’ exchange with Harris, where she tried to cut off his answer without allowing him to add necessary qualifiers, in order to get her next question in. She had certain things she wanted to say and was up against a time limit - finding out information from Sessions had nothing to do with it. Sort of like Cotton’s hyperbolic diatribe, followed by focusing on distracting with leaks, ffs! You could quite easily have cut out his entire five minutes and missed absolutely nothing. But hey, I’m sure it played well with Trump’s Deliverance-character base. No, that wasn’t politically driven in any way. It’s just so ridiculous! Give me a break. ---
**Author:** ![ganthet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@ganthet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ganthet)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/116 "2017-06-14T01:29:07Z")
I’m not sure I saw portions of the same testimony that all the posters who say he did well saw. His explanation for being involved in Comey’s firing despite recusing himself from all matters involving the Russia investigation made no sense, given that arguably the biggest investigation in progress on Comey’s plate was the Russia investigation. Sessions also invented another patently absurd justification for firing Comey in that he completely disagreed with Comey’s recommendation not to prosecute Hillary. If that or anything resembling that was the actual reason, Comey would have been fired in January. Nevermind, of course, that Trump already confessed that he made up his mind to fire Comey before Sessons or Rosenstein’s memo. And Sessions confirmed one of the more subtlely damning parts of Comey’s testimony - that Trump never asked about and never expressed any concern about any Russian hacking or interference in the election and that Sessions is similarly unconcerned. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/117 "2017-06-14T02:02:26Z")
Got a couple of questions, don’t know how to resolve, and I hate that neural itch. Maybe the best way to get a fact is to post something wrong on the internet. Second quickest is to admit ignorance amongst a band of devoted smart-asses. _Numero uno_. Am I right when I think that Trump has not ever publicly accepted that the Russian incursion ever even happened? That he stubbornly refuses to accept that any investigation is warranted? I have the thought that Sessions can safely deny any such discussions under those circumstances. Sorta kinda, if you can believe that those two never passed a word to each other about this. I would expect any remotely responsible Prez to at least openly review his opinions and his evidence, because being wrong has…consequences. So, is that it, then? Sessions and Trump never discussed Russia interference because Trump doesn’t think it ever happened? And Sessions just shrugs and moves on the more crucial question of prosecuting weed? Da fuq? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/118 "2017-06-14T02:08:18Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > This whole thing was a waste of time from the beginning. They should have told him to take his “testimony” and shove it wherever it is that Keebler elves traditionally cram things. This is a case in which the Trump administration used the opponent’s aggression against him and deflected it. This administration might seem to be on the ropes, but their aim isn’t necessarily exoneration outright. Authoritarian regimes don’t need formal judgments of innocence. They don’t even need a majority to support them. They just need a majority to not care enough to stop them. They just want the American public gets fatigued enough to not care about whatever Trump will do next. Obviously, a majority didn’t care about his grabbing women’s pussies. It’s not at all clear that a majority cares enough about Russia’s hacks on our election to see an investigation through to the end. It’s clear that a majority cares about Trump’s financial entanglements, or his attacks on the press, or his many outrages. Sure, if you ask them in polls, a majority might say they don’t like what he’s doing. But are a majority actually going to get out and vote against him? Are they going to protest or contact their representatives in congress? Not at all clear. Most authoritarian regimes start off with consent. Not majority consent, though. Just enough apathy and indifference to signal that they can continue to do whatever it is that they want to do. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/119 "2017-06-14T02:13:08Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > Meanwhile, of course, all the Trump mouthpieces are proclaiming victory, how great and above reproach Sessions is, how the whole thing is a fabrication, blah blah blah. Seems I saw something entirely different. **We learned nothing new whatsoever** , with the minor exception of corroborating some of Comey’s testimony. And that’s all that they wanted to achieve: nothing new here, folks, just move on. They’re trying to wear us out. It’s brave people like James Comey and Preet Bharara who are defending the constitution right now, not the congress. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667/120 "2017-06-14T02:17:47Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > You’d think it wouldn’t seem so obvious. Can’t recall, my ass. …or as The Keebler Elf says… “Oh Fudge”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atty-gen-jeff-sessions-vs-the-senate-intelligence-committee/788667.md?page=7)