U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the target of demands for resignation due to his triggering yet another Trump Administration scandal related to lying under oath in the Senate about contacts with Russian officials, finds himself in an 'Alabama Hurricane' of his own making.
This scandal engulfing Sessions erupted from denials made by the former Republican U.S. Senator from Alabama during his confirmation hearing for the Attorney General post.
Sessions, when questioned during that hearing about his contacts with Russian officials, noted that he had been a Trump surrogate during the campaign yet he flat-out denied having any such contacts.
However,
recent revelations document that Sessions did in fact have contacts with the
Russian ambassador to the US last year when then Sessions was serving as a
prominent advisor to Trump during Trump's presidential campaign and his
post-election transition.
An "Alabama Hurricane" --- according to one popular definition --- is a fart released with such stinking force that it smacks those in its path in the face hard enough to cause blunt force trauma.
Claims by Sessions that his denials during that confirmation hearing were not material misrepresentations* because he misunderstood the questions fail even the simplest smell test.
A former federal prosecutor, Sessions preens as an astute lawyer able to easily understand questions --- questions both nuanced and clearly stated.
(*The term material misrepresentation is the legal phrase for behavior layman refer to as a lie.)
Session's failure to correct the record about his misstatements made during the weeks following that confirmation hearing also carried the fart stench full force.
Sessions remained silent about his Russian contacts even as Trump's National Security Advisor resigned for similarly lying about contacts with Russian officials (although not under oath).
Sessions had weeks to clarify what he is now claiming with lawyer-like parsing: that he met with that Russian ambassador in his capacity as a U.S. Senator on the Armed Services Committee, and not as a Trump surrogate.
Sessions recused himself from overseeing any U.S. Justice Department investigation into the Trump presidential campaign. But that recusal did not occur until after news reports exposed his deceptive confirmation hearing testimony.
Sessions has not removed himself totally from all investigations into the alleged Russian role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, evidencing a failure by Sessions to see the clear conflict of interest in his involvements due to his now Russian taint.
President Trump objected strongly to the recusal move of Sessions - evidencing the failure of POTUS to appreciate the ethics and 'optics' of the stinky scandal surrounding his Attorney General.
Many Democrats, organizations and individuals opposed Trump's nomination of Sessions to become America's top law enforcement official because for much of Sessions' arch conservative career he has operated in the haze of an endless 'Alabama Hurricane."
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