NY Times: What else is Sessions forgetting?

The New York Times on Wednesday criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his repeated failures to recall contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russians during the 2016 campaign.

“Mr. Sessions spent most of Tuesday’s hearing as he has all the others he’s sat through this year — by not recalling things that one would think most people would,” the Times’s editorial board wrote.

Members of the House Judiciary Committee grilled Sessions on Tuesday over his knowledge of contacts between Trump campaign members and Russian officials during the 2016 presidential race.

Sessions previously did not recall meeting with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Last month, Sessions said he was not aware of any other Trump campaign members meeting with Russians.

It was revealed soon after that two campaign advisers, Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, had spoken with Russians about arranging a trip to Russia to meet government officials.

Sessions said Tuesday that recent news reports about Papadopoulos jogged his memory that he did talk with the former campaign aide.

The newspaper ripped Sessions for saying his answers “have not changed,” and that he’s “always told the truth.”

“He’s right — if you redefine the words ‘changed,’ ‘always’ and ‘truth,’ ” the paper wrote.

“What else are you forgetting, Mr. Attorney General?” the Times added. 

Sessions on Tuesday also faced calls from Republicans to appoint a second special counsel to investigate a number of allegations related to Hillary Clinton, but he pushed back on the idea.

“You can have your idea, but sometimes we have to study what the facts are and to evaluate whether it meets the standards it requires,” Sessions told Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). 

As special counsel Robert Mueller carries out his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, several Republicans and Trump himself have suggested the Justice Department should be looking into Democrats, specifically Clinton.