During a press conference on Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions stated, “I never had meetings with Russian operatives or Russian intermediaries about the Trump campaign,” and “no such things were discussed” during his meeting with the Russian ambassador, and “my reply to the question of Senator Franken was honest and correct as I understood it at the time. I appreciate that some have taken the view that this was a false comment. That is not my intent. That is not correct.”

Sessions said, “First, about the comments that I made to the committee that have been said to be incorrect and false. Let me be clear, I never had meetings with Russian operatives or Russian intermediaries about the Trump campaign, and the idea that I was part of a, quote, ‘continuing exchange of information, during the campaign, between Trump surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government’ is totally false. That is the question that Senator [Al] Franken (D-MN) asked me at the hearing, and that’s what got my attention, as he noticed it — noted, it was the first — just breaking news, and it got my attention, and that is the question I responded to. I did not respond by referring to the two meetings, one very brief after a speech, and one with two of my senior staffers, professional staffers, with the Russian ambassador in Washington, where no such things were discussed. In my reply to the question — my reply to the question of Senator Franken was honest and correct as I understood it at the time. I appreciate that some have taken the view that this was a false comment. That is not my intent. That is not correct. I will write the Judiciary Committee soon, today or tomorrow, to explain this testimony for the record.”

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