Report: 3 witnesses contradict Sessions' testimony on Russia outreach

Three people who have spoken with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team or congressional committees investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election told Reuters that during their interviews, they contradicted the testimony of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who last November told the House Judiciary Committee he "pushed back" against a proposal in 2016 to have Trump campaign representatives meet with Russians.

The three witnesses were at the March 2016 meeting, where former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos suggested reaching out to the Russians, and while their accounts differed slightly, they all said that Sessions had no objections to Papadopoulos' idea. One told Reuters that Sessions was polite, and told Papadopoulos something similar to, "okay, interesting." Last November, a meeting attendee named J.D. Gordon said Sessions was opposed to the plan, and on Saturday he told Reuters he stood by his statement.

At the time, Sessions — who also failed last year to disclose to Congress he met with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak — was still a Republican senator from Alabama, and he was chairing the meeting as head of the campaign's foreign policy team. President Trump posted a photo of the meeting on his Instagram feed that showed Trump, Sessions, Papadopoulos, and other men sitting at a table. In October, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russia contacts, and he's now cooperating with Mueller.

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