Attorney General Jeff Sessions has come under fire from Democrats accusing him of false testimony during his confirmation hearing. Sen. Al Franken asked a long rambling question about Russian communications with Trump’s campaign to which Sessions answered he had no contact with Russia. It has since come to light that in his duties as Senator, he met with the Russian ambassador on two separate occasions. The full question and response can be seen here. This seems like one of those white/gold and black/blue dress events, people are positive in their interpretation of what happened. Whatever your view may be on his response, it is exceedingly unlikely that Sessions will be convicted of perjury. The legal standard for perjury demands that it is proved both false and intended to deceive, which will be difficult to prove here. So despite claims by top Democrats, do not expect any legal issues to come from this exchange.

Why the furor? Never discount the political motive, but the more obvious answer has already been revealed. They sought and received his recusal from future investigations into Russia’s interference in the election. If an investigation gets underway it is now extremely likely that it will take a look at Sessions. In the end though, this is non story in regards to Russia. Nothing nefarious has been shown and Sessions avoided fully answering a question to avoid a politically unpalatable response. This situation will play well with certain political bases and the media, but carries no heft barring some new major revelation. It did cause enough of a brush up that Democrats were able to spill a little blood, but beyond that, don’t expect resignations, don’t expect a special prosecutor, and don’t expect anything to come from the Russian conspiracy theories. There is little doubt that Russia interfered with the presidential campaign by leaking emails, but anyone crying collusion with the Trump campaign has nothing to go on but extremely circumstantial evidence.