Tag Archives: Russia

Mediaite recaps: Late night veteran John Oliver opened up Last Week Tonight on Sunday going after Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The comedian skewered the former Alabama Senator for his Russia ties and the self-inflicted wound of failing to disclose his meeting with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Oliver took issue with Sessions seemingly bringing up his non-involvement with Russia unasked. “There …

From the Hollywood Reporter: Russia is considering banning Disney’s Beauty and the Beast from screening in the country, BBC News reported. The film, which features a gay character (LeFou) played by Josh Gad, may breach a Russian law prohibiting homosexual propaganda directed toward minors. Director Bill Condon previously revealed to Attitude that the live-action adaptation has a “a nice, exclusively …

The Independent reports: Christopher Steele, the former MI6 spy who prepared the explosive Trump report, has been approached about testifying before the US Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the new President’s alleged links with Russia, The Independent can reveal. Mr Steele’s friends say it is currently unlikely he would be willing to travel to the US. But it is understood …

NBC News reports: Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal leaves any Justice Department investigation of alleged Russian election interference temporarily in the hands of an official who began his career as a prosecutor under President Ronald Reagan and was promoted by Barack Obama. That means it’s the job of Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente to oversee any investigations related to …

CNN reports: Russia’s foreign minister pushed back Friday at assertions that his country’s US ambassador is a spy, and echoed US President Donald Trump’s contention that the controversy over contacts between Kremlin officials and Trump’s campaign is “a witch hunt.” “The ambassadors are appointed in order to maintain relationships,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference in …

So this happened right before Sessions recused himself. The Hill reports: President Trump said Thursday that he has “total” confidence in Attorney General Jeff Sessions, dismissing bipartisan calls for Sessions to recuse himself from federal investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Trump told reporters he “wasn’t aware” of Sessions’ conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., …

From the Daily Beast: Attorney General Jeff Sessions will hold a press conference at 4 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, amid a firestorm over The Washington Post’s report that he had spoken with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, twice last year while also serving in a senior surrogate role on President Donald Trump’s campaign. During his confirmation hearing on …

Nothing is surprising anymore. Nothing. Via Mediaite: Back on October 11th of last year, exactly four weeks before his father’s victory in the presidential election, Donald Trump, Jr. spoke at an event in Paris held by the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs (CPFA), a French think tank. On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal published a report further scrutinizing the …

The Austin Statesman reports: U.S. Sen Ted Cruz said Thursday that calls for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign or recuse himself from an investigation of ties between the Russian government and the Trump campaign were “political theater,” and that Sessions’ meeting with the Russian ambassador during the campaign — that he failed to disclose at his Senate confirmation hearing …

The Hill reports: The White House is dismissing calls for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. “There’s nothing to recuse himself,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in an interview with Fox News that aired late Thursday morning. “He was 100 percent straight with the committee, and …

Venerable newsman Dan Rather went to town on Jeff Sessions this morning. From his Facebook page: Every once in a while in Washington, the fuse is lit for what seems to be a big scandal. Much more rarely does that fuse lead to an explosion of the magnitude we are seeing with Russia and the new Administration, and frankly the …

The Associated Press reports: The intense attention being given to the new U.S. attorney general’s meetings with Russia’s ambassador could obstruct improved Washington-Moscow relations, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. The spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters he did not know about the meetings last year between Ambassador Sergei Kislyak and Jeff Sessions, who at that time was …

Mediaite reports: NBC caught up with Attorney General Jeff Sessions this morning, just hours after a Washington Post report said that Sessions did not disclose contact he had with the Russian ambassador during the campaign when he was going through his Senate Judiciary hearing to become the nation’s top prosecutor. “Well I have not met with any Russians at any …

Business Insider reports: The head of the House oversight committee on Thursday morning said Attorney General Jeff Sessions should recuse himself from the investigations into Russia’s election-related hacking and communications with President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah, said on Twitter that “AG Sessions should clarify his testimony and recuse himself.” House Majority …

Raw Story reports: Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) believes Attorney General Jeff Sessions misled him during a Senate confirmation about his contacts with Russian officials during the presidential campaign. “His responses to me weren’t accurate,” Franken told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I would like to see him answer questions at a press conference and then we can decide whether he should resign …

From Breitbart editor Joel Pollak: The Post does not provide the full transcript of the question, from Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), and Sessions’s answer. Instead it summarizes the exchange in a way that makes it seem that Sessions was asked if there was any contact at all between the campaign and representatives of the Russian government. The New York Times …

The New York Times reports: In the Obama administration’s last days, some White House officials scrambled to spread information about Russian efforts to undermine the presidential election — and about possible contacts between associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump and Russians — across the government. Former American officials say they had two aims: to ensure that such meddling isn’t duplicated …

Politico reports: Top congressional Democrats called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign Wednesday after revelations that he had met with the Russian ambassador in the months before the election — meetings that Sessions did not disclose during his confirmation hearings. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) led the effort late on Wednesday night, accusing Sessions of “lying under oath” …

The Washington Post reports: The former British spy who authored a controversial dossier on behalf of Donald Trump’s political opponents alleging ties between Trump and Russia reached an agreement with the FBI a few weeks before the election for the bureau to pay him to continue his work, according to several people familiar with the arrangement. The agreement to compensate …

Mediaite reports: Speaker Paul Ryan got a question after his meeting with President Trump today about calls for a special prosecutor into Russian election interference — spurred on by the comments of one Republican lawmaker. Ryan said he “can’t speak to” whether Jeff Sessions should recuse himself, and he said the proper place right now for this investigation is the …