Some of what Comey knew relating to Sessions, and which he said in his June 8 2016 testimony he could not discuss in open session. Comey and fellow FBI heads decided not to tell Sessions that Trump had pressured Comey to ease off Flynn because they felt he would have to recuse himself. They knew he had chatted to Kislyak, and, according to Kislyak, about campaign matters.
Trump's reaction? Attack, complain, accuse.
Trump attacks Post over report Sessions discussed campaign with ambassador [...] The president did not defend Sessions, whom earlier this week he criticised strongly for his recusal from the Russia investigation. Instead, Trump complained about “illegal leaks” and demanded: “Why isn’t the AG or Special Council [sic] looking at the many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000 e-mails deleted?” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/21/jeff-sessions-meeting-russian-ambassador-trump-campaign
Sooo, Flynn, Papadopoulos, Sessions and Kushner all caught lying thanks to intelligence surveillance on foreign figures.
Comey and Sessions Are Questioned for Hours in Russia Inquiry WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions was questioned for several hours last week as part of the special counsel investigation, a Justice Department spokeswoman said on Tuesday, and the former F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, was interviewed by the office last year, according to two people briefed on the matter. The meeting with Mr. Sessions marked the first time that investigators for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, are known to have interviewed a member of President Trump’s cabinet. The interview with Mr. Comey focused on a series of memos he wrote about his interactions with Mr. Trump that unnerved Mr. Comey. In one memo, Mr. Comey said that Mr. Trump had asked him to end the F.B.I.’s investigation into the former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn. After the president’s request was disclosed, the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, appointed Mr. Mueller as the special counsel to lead the Russia investigation and examine whether the president obstructed justice. The disclosure about Mr. Comey’s interview came hours after the Justice Department spokeswoman, Sarah Isgur Flores, confirmed that the interview with Mr. Sessions occurred. Mr. Sessions was accompanied by the longtime Washington lawyer Chuck Cooper to the interview. [...] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/us/politics/jeff-sessions-special-counsel-russia.html .. more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dy7Ex6wCOHUvnnMxsI86rld77KsxM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Republicans launch extraordinary new tactics to protect Trump on Russia Republicans may be on the verge of publicly releasing a secret memo compiled by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), one of President Trump’s most devoted bodyguards against accountability on Capitol Hill, that purports to show serious misconduct by the FBI and Justice Department toward the Trump campaign. The memo is the latest effort to build an alt-narrative that casts the FBI’s Russia probe — which became special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe — as a Deep State Coup to remove Trump from power. Byron York reports that around 200 House Republicans have privately read the Nunes memo, and GOP leaders may release it in one or two weeks. This comes after Trump’s allies — including his son — have called for the memo’s release. In an interview with me this morning, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) — who is Nunes’s Democratic counterpart on the House Intelligence Committee — pushed back hard, alleging that the memo presents a profoundly doctored picture of what the classified information actually shows. “It’s highly distorted spin by Nunes,” Schiff told me. “The Nunes spin memo distorts the underlying materials and has presented Members with a very misleading impression of what those materials show.” Schiff also made a striking claim: He said that in allowing the memo to be accessed in a classified setting by House Republicans, Nunes has violated an agreement with the FBI and the Justice Department. Schiff added that its public release would also violate that agreement. The GOP leaders on the intel committee have allowed members of Congress to access the document, but Democrats charge this is merely an effort to arm them with misleading talking points to attack the FBI on Trump’s behalf. “The release of the materials by the chairman violated an agreement he entered into with the FBI and the Department of Justice,” Schiff told me, in a reference to the release of the memo to the membership of the House for reading. “The agreement was because of the sensitivity of the materials to limit their distribution,” Schiff also said. “There were certain conditions attached to the viewing of the materials which have been violated.” Asked if it would violate the agreement if the memo were to be released publicly, Schiff said: “Of course.” He added that this was revealing that there may be “no limit” to “how far Nunes and the majority are willing to go to protect the president from the Russia investigation.” Schiff declined to go into more detail. But he also told me that he’d offered a motion on the committee that would delay the release of the memo until all its members could get access to the underlying material, but Republicans voted it down on party lines. [...] https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/01/23/republicans-launch-extraordinary-new-tactics-to-protect-trump-on-russia/ .. more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d_0xiqlVBhxdPsMmQwOqwivRkrZQM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Sessions Is Questioned as Russia Inquiry Focuses on Obstruction [updated story] WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions was questioned for several hours last week as part of the special counsel investigation, the Justice Department confirmed Tuesday, making him the first member of President Trump’s cabinet to be interviewed in the inquiry. The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, is increasingly focused on Mr. Trump’s conduct in office and on whether he obstructed the investigation itself. Mr. Mueller has also told the president’s lawyers that he will most likely want to interview Mr. Trump, and one person familiar with the discussions has said that the special counsel appeared most interested in asking questions about the firing of the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, and about the former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn. Those topics show Mr. Mueller has an interest in whether the president tried to obstruct justice. Mr. Mueller’s investigators have asked current and former Trump administration officials about what Mr. Trump cited as reasons for Mr. Comey’s firing, and why Mr. Trump was so concerned about having someone loyal to him oversee the Russia investigation, people familiar with the interviews said. For Mr. Sessions, the interview was the latest in a balancing act that has lasted nearly a year. He has sought to get back in Mr. Trump’s good graces by pursuing investigations into issues like leaks to the news media and relaying Mr. Trump’s displeasure about senior F.B.I. leadership to the bureau’s current director, Christopher A. Wray. But Mr. Sessions has also tried to present a veneer of independence in congressional testimony and now has met with investigators in Mr. Mueller’s inquiry, which has for months cast a shadow over the Trump White House. News of the interview set off a day of revelations that highlighted Mr. Trump’s charged relationship with his top law enforcement officials. Mr. Comey was said on Tuesday to have met last year with Mr. Mueller’s investigators to answer questions about memos he wrote detailing interactions with the president that had unnerved him. Mr. Trump also said he was not troubled that Mr. Sessions met with the special counsel and denied a report that Mr. Wray had threatened to resign. “He didn’t at all,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Wray, adding: “He did not even a little bit. Nope. He’s going to do a good job.” [...] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/us/politics/jeff-sessions-special-counsel-russia.html .. more: https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+erupted+in+anger+sessions