# Jefferson Beauregard Sessions the third apparently lied under oath January 10, 2017 **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 2, 2017, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171 "2017-03-02T02:47:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/81 "2017-03-02T21:20:02Z")
The next best thing to going the extra mile for ethical purity is pretending to. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/82 "2017-03-02T21:20:29Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Well, he just recused himself about 3 hours after the President said he didn’t need to, so who the hell knows? My interpretation is that Bannon, Trump, and the other insiders are running scared about what Sessions could reveal if he were angered by being forced to resign–and that Bannon has made the assessment that Sessions will either be forced\* to resign or forced to recuse himself. Lesser of two evils, keeping-Sessions-quiet-wise. \*By public opinion acting on GOP Congress-people worried about their seats. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/83 "2017-03-02T21:27:24Z")
I’d have been happier if Jeff “Dunham Puppet” Sessions had announced his sudden desire to spend “spend more time with his family,” but I guess a recusal is a small step in the right direction. ---
**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:** [March 2, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/84 "2017-03-02T21:31:08Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I’d have been happier if Jeff “Dunham Puppet” Sessions had announced his sudden desire to spend “spend more time with his family,” but I guess a recusal is a small step in the right direction. Based on what he said, it boils down to “I don’t have the ethical judgement to recuse myself, I needed several people tell me I should.” ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/85 "2017-03-02T21:31:40Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > “Foghorn Beauregard Leghorn IV” or something. > > Weirdly, he does not really have that lazy Southern gentility (backed by menace) that I’d expect from someone with such a moniker. My favorite description of his appearance is “racist goblin.” Ah well, I’m sure I would have a strong nervous energy too, if people were always being mean to me on the floor of the Senate. > > PS: Erik Loomis, lefty blogger at Lawyers Guns & Money, has been calling Sessions by his full Crackro-American\* handle for years now. > > - I stole that from Ed Kilgore - blame him. He looks exactly like Cotton Hill. More than Mike Pence does. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/86 "2017-03-02T21:34:20Z")
Well, yeah. I mean, Pence is Race Bannon, isn’t he? ---
**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:** [March 2, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/87 "2017-03-02T21:40:43Z")
So, he’s going to recuse himself (as I thought he would), but that doesn’t mean there will be a SP, right? Might he have some deputy run the investigation? ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/88 "2017-03-02T21:58:43Z")
Jared Kushner was also at a December meeting with Michael Flynn and Sergei Kislyak, which took place at Trump Tower. [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/us/politics/kushner-flynn-sessions-russia.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/us/politics/kushner-flynn-sessions-russia.html) > [@NYT](#): > > Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and now a senior adviser, also participated in the meeting at Trump Tower with Mr. Flynn and Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador. But among Mr. Trump’s inner circle, it is Mr. Flynn who appears to have been the main interlocutor with the Russian envoy — the two were in contact during the campaign and the transition, Mr. Kislyak and current and former American officials have said. > > But the extent and frequency of their contacts remains unclear, and the disclosure of the meeting at Trump Tower adds to the emerging picture of how the relationship between Mr. Trump’s incoming team and Moscow was evolving to include some of the president-elect’s most trusted advisers. Kushner is in a political appointed role, atm, so no lying under oath. But this meeting at Trump Tower makes it more obvious that Donald was lying when he said he didn’t know about Flynn’s contact with Russia (as if there was any doubt.) ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/89 "2017-03-02T22:03:30Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > He looks exactly like Cotton Hill. More than Mike Pence does. YOU FRICKIN NAILED IT! [Cotton Hill - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_Hill) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/90 "2017-03-02T22:04:27Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > this meeting at Trump Tower makes it more obvious that Donald was lying when he said he didn’t know about Flynn’s contact with Russia (as if there was any doubt.) Alternatively, Flynn and Kushner kept Donald out of the loop because he’s just an ignorant figurehead who doesn’t actually need to be told anything that’s going on. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/91 "2017-03-02T22:20:19Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Exactly. Flynn didn’t “leave”, he was fired. The circumstances are different for Sessions, from Trump’s point of view, so there’s a good chance he won’t be fired. Well, apologies then. I did not know we were discussing this from the [perspective of the moral and ethical vacuum that is Trump’s mind. I was unaware that the question really was “Will Trump fire him”, as opposed to “Did Sessions do something wrong”. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/92 "2017-03-02T22:21:04Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’m not sure I understand. Let’s say I’m on trial for murder – not just _any_ murder, you understand, but the murder of Nathan Yablonski in New York on August 5th of last year. And let’s say I’m simply asked – under oath – whether I murdered Nathan Yablonski in New York on August 5th of last year. And let’s say that I cheerfully reply, _“Hey, listen, pal: I didn’t kill anybody in New York on August 5th of last year.”_ > > And let’s say that I in fact killed some other guy in New York on August 5th of last year. Have I committed perjury? No. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/93 "2017-03-02T22:21:07Z")
According to The Hill, there is doubt if the meetings with the Russian ambassador could use the fig leaf of Sessions being in the Armed Services Committee. [http://thehill.com/homenews/news/321948-armed-services-committee-dem-our-members-dont-meet-with-russian-ambassadors](http://thehill.com/homenews/news/321948-armed-services-committee-dem-our-members-dont-meet-with-russian-ambassadors) > [@](#): > > A Sessions spokesman insisted that the contact with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak was in his capacity as a member of the Armed Services Committee, not as a surrogate for Trump’s presidential campaign. > > But McCaskill, also a member of the committee, tweeted that she has never had contact with the ambassador in her capacity on the Armed Services Committee. Sessions and the Republicans tried to point at a past meeting with McCaskill with the Russian ambassador, but as McCaskill staff explained: > [@](#): > > The senator’s spokeswoman said in a statement that the meeting included other senators and noted the contrast with Sessions’ communications. > > “She did attend a group meeting about adoptions with other Senators, and had a brief proactive call with the ambassador amid calls to several other parties to the Iran nuclear deal,” the statement reads. "Attorney General Sessions, on the other hand, misled the Senate under oath."In its report, The Washington Post noted that it called all 26 members of the Senate committee to confirm whether any other member had met with Kislyak. > > The 20 senators who responded said they did not meet with the Russian ambassador last year. The report did not indicate whether McCaskill was one of the respondents. So, how common is for a senator to have a meeting alone with a Russian ambassador? And what was the reason for the meeting? ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/94 "2017-03-02T23:07:38Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > No. Why not? He’s under oath. Assuming he knew that he had, in fact, killed someone that date, he’s wilfully lying under oath. I suppose the criminal defense attorney in you could argue that the other murder isn’t “material”, but when the defendant opens the door like that, he’s making it material. By trying to portray himself as “not a murderer that day” the answer he gave has “a natural tendency to influence, or is capable of influencing, the decision of the decision-making body to which it was addressed.” ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/95 "2017-03-02T23:11:19Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > No. I respectfully disagree. The answer is perjury even if the answer was not compelled by the question. Although I agree with what you said upthread about Sessons > [@](#): > > it’s incumbent on the questioner to ask questions that are specific enough to eliminate wriggle room if one hopes to secure a perjury conviction. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/96 "2017-03-02T23:14:59Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > I never knew Sessions’s full name. May I just say that Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is almost the most Southern name possible? He could maybe score more Southern points by changing his last name to Compson or Sartoris ‘Calhoun’ would be a good choice. > [@](#): > > or maybe by showing up to his (hopefully forthcoming) Senate grilling wearing a linen suit and demanding to be called Colonel. He lives in a big white house with tall columns at the end of a path flanked by cypress trees, doesn’t he? To me he looks less like the descendant of a Southern aristocrat plantation owner, than the 1950s-1960s-era Chamber of Commerce guy in a small to medium-sized Southern town who gets interviewed on TV explaining that _their_ nigras were all quiet and happy until those outside agitators from up North got them all stirred up. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/97 "2017-03-02T23:17:37Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > ‘Calhoun’ would be a good choice. To me he looks less like the descendant of a Southern aristocrat plantation owner, than the 1950s-1960s-era Chamber of Commerce guy in a small to medium-sized Southern town who gets interviewed on TV explaining that _their_ nigras were all quiet and happy until those outside agitators from up North got them all stirred up. The Alt-Left thread in the Elections forum dropped like a rock after I pointed out that several people were making that same point. Funny how they got all quiet all of a sudden. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/98 "2017-03-02T23:21:41Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Why not? He’s under oath. Assuming he knew that he had, in fact, killed someone that date, he’s wilfully lying under oath. I suppose the criminal defense attorney in you could argue that the other murder isn’t “material”, but when the defendant opens the door like that, he’s making it material. By trying to portray himself as “not a murderer that day” the answer he gave has “a natural tendency to influence, or is capable of influencing, the decision of the decision-making body to which it was addressed.” Not material as a matter of law, inasmuch as the answer would have elicited inadmissible 404(b) evidence anyway. And it’s not true to say that claim that someone is not a murderer on a specific day is fairly regarded as influencing the finder of fact. The assumption is that most people are not murderers most days. ---
**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:** [March 2, 2017, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/99 "2017-03-02T23:37:25Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Well, apologies then. I did not know we were discussing this from the [perspective of the moral and ethical vacuum that is Trump’s mind. I was unaware that the question really was “Will Trump fire him”, as opposed to “Did Sessions do something wrong”. It’s not a big deal, but this whole conversation started by me responding to your post where you said: > [@you](#): > > Since this is pretty much the exact thing that resulted in Flynn’s removal, why should Sessions stay on at this point? Emphasis added. Flynn was removed by Trump, so it would appear you were asking why Trump would not also remove Sessions. As noted, the “thing” that triggered Flynn’s removal was that he made Pence (and Trump) look bad. Trump couldn’t give a shit if he talked to the Russians or not. Feel free to have the last word on this if you wish-- it’s a minor thing not worth dragging on. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171/100 "2017-03-02T23:39:23Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Not material as a matter of law, inasmuch as the answer would have elicited inadmissible 404(b) evidence anyway. And it’s not true to say that claim that someone is not a murderer on a specific day is fairly regarded as influencing the finder of fact. The assumption is that most people are not murderers most days. I hate to continue this tangent, but 404(b) is designed to protect a defendant (or other witness) from being cross examined about other “crimes, wrongs or other acts.” It would not prohibit testimony about the absence of other wrongs, such as “not murdering anyone that day.” There may be other grounds to move that the answer be stricken. I wonder, however, if you can prosecute a witness for perjury on the basis of an untruthful answer that was stricken from the record. Perhaps not. I doubt that a prosecutor would move to strike an answer like “I didn’t kill anyone that day.” [BTW, perjury prosecutions of witnesses in litigation are exceptionally rare. Actual perjury probably happens with some frequency, but not as much as you may suspect] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jefferson-beauregard-sessions-the-third-apparently-lied-under-oath-january-10-2017/781171.md?page=6)