Countable Explains: Who's Who in the Russia Investigation

Jeff Sessions

Role:

Former Attorney General

Previous role:

Republican Senator from Alabama (1997-2017)

Quote:

"Appalling and detestable lie." —Sessions on claims he colluded with Russian officials during the 2016 election

Key dates:

• July 2016: during the Republican National Convention, Carter Page and then-Senator Sessions speak with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

• September 2016: Sessions meets privately with Kislyak.

• January 2017: During his AG confirmation hearings, Sessions said, "I did not have communications with the Russians." Officials would later claim Sessions did not consider the above meetings relevant to the lawmakers’ questions and the future Attorney General did not remember in detail what he discussed with Kislyak.

• March 2, 2017: Sessions recuses himself from any investigations involving the Trump campaign after it’s revealed that Sessions spoke with Kislyak twice during the 2016 presidential campaign.

• May 2017: Despite his recusal, the AG pens a letter to Trump, urging the President to fire FBI Director James Comey. Sessions writes, "I have concluded that a fresh start is needed at the leadership of the FBI."

• June 13, 2017: Sessions participates in a Senate Intelligence committee hearing over his meetings with Russian officials. He spends the 90-minute testimony refuting innuendo that he’d colluded with Russians. He also declines to discuss his private conversations with Trump, saying, "I am protecting the right of the President to assert [executive privilege] if he chooses; and there may be other privileges that could apply in this circumstance."

• October 8, 2017: Sessions once again appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He also, once again, refuses to answer questions about his conversations with the President. Sessions admits to meeting with Kislyak during the campaign, but denies that any Trump "surrogates" were in contact with Russia.

Current mood:

Resigned to Trump’s mood, Out of office