Are Sessions-Russia Claims 'Fake News'? Kremlin Denies Knowing Of Talks Between Ambassador And Attorney General

The Russian Kremlin was denying that it knew anything about what was discussed in Attorney General Jeff Sessions' meetings with a Russian ambassador in 2016, when Sessions was a senator and senior member of the Armed Services Committee.

"I don't know the details of any meetings," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday. "(But) the ambassador's job is to hold as many meetings as possible."

A Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman called the report of the meetings "fake news."

"What is going on in the Western, particularly in the US media, is just some manifestation of media vandalism," said spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in the Russian state-run Sputnik News. "(I)t's an attempt of total disinformation."

During his Senate confirmation hearing in January, Sessions denied meeting with Russians in any way. After the Washington Post broke the news Wednesday, he said he did not speak to Russians about matters regarding the President Donald Trump’s campaign. In a statement Wednesday, Sessions said: "I have never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false."

No notes from the meeting have been found as evidence to confirm or repudiate Sessions’ claim. But Sessions advised Trump on foreign policy during the president’s run for office, and the meetings occurred in July and September, during the height of the campaign.

The revelation that Sessions spoke to a Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak came after meeting months of news intensifying already contentious Russian-U.S. relations. American intelligence agencies concluded in December that the Kremlin interfered with the U.S. elections, and last month Michael Flynn was forced to resign as National Security Adviser to Trump after revelations that he had spoken to Russian officials and lied about it.

Since Wednesday, others on the Armed Forces Committee said meeting with the Russian ambassador was an unusual move for a senator.

“Members of the committee have not been beating a path to Kislyak’s door,” an anonymous senior Senate Armed Services Committee staffer told the Washington Post, citing tensions in relations with Moscow. “There haven’t been a ton of members who are looking to meet with Kislyak for their committee duties.”

Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) shared a similar statement on Twitter Thursday morning.

Since the news broke Wednesday night, Democrats have called on Sessions to recuse himself from overseeing an investigation into the connections between Trump’s campaign and Russian officials.

“Sessions is not fit to serve as the top law enforcement officer of our country and must resign,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). “There must be an independent, bipartisan, outside commission to investigate the Trump political, personal and financial connections to the Russians.”