During his confirmation hearing, Sessions falsely told Congress that he “did not have communications with the Russians” during the 2016 presidential campaign, when in fact he did. As a matter of fact, Sessions met with the Russian Ambassador in Session’s own office. Accusations of perjury also stem from a written statement Sessions submitted in response to a question from Sen. Patrick Leahy, about whether he ever discussed the 2016 election with any Russian officials. Sessions’ answer to that question was just one word: “No.” He implicitly defended that response at a press conference Thursday by saying he didn’t remember talking to the ambassador about the campaign.
If that sounds like an open-and-shut case of perjury, one needs to realize one thing; that perjury requires an intent to mislead, and prosecutors must prove the accused “willfully” made a statement he knew to be untrue. Sessions later claimed he was confused and should have slowed down during questioning. Hence, even though he admits his statement wasn’t true, he claimed that he wasn’t intentionally providing false testimony.
