NPR
LA Times
Washington Post
New York Times
Image: New York Times
Attorney General Jeff Sessions was questioned today before the House Judiciary Committee regarding the Trump administration’s ties with Russian officials. Session had previously undergone two other hearings, in which he claimed to have no knowledge of these ties. This was later contradicted by former foreign policy aides George Papadopoulos and Carter Page, who claim that they told Sessions about their connections to Russian officials. Furthermore, he had stated that he “did not have communications” with Russian officials, which was proven to be false by media reports of him speaking to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. These inconsistent or incorrect statements have warranted the need for today’s hearing.
In today’s testimony, Sessions claimed, once again, that he did not know anyone in the Trump campaign who had ties to Russians, and that he “had no recollection” of a conversation with Papadopoulos regarding a possible meeting between Trump and Putin. However, according to the New York Times, he also claims to remember that he had “shot down Mr. Papadopoulos’ idea of Trump-Putin meeting,” presenting a clear contradiction in his testimony.
Although the true extent of the Trump administration’s entanglements with Russia is not apparent, it’s easy to see the damage in credibility that the Trump administration has taken through incomplete or incorrect statements by figures such as Sessions. As we discussed in class, the current American distrust towards the government has its roots in the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War; the Russian investigation will likely only extend this distrust. As the Washington Post stated, “If the person on the highest level sworn to uphold the law is the one you cannot trust, that’s a big problem for the entire Justice Department.”
Discussion Questions:
Over the course of the Russian investigation, Trump has attempted to distance himself from those implicated, such as by dismissing Papadopoulos and Page as “low-level” members of the campaign. Overall, how do you believe the Russian investigation will reflect on Trump’s image? What do you think are the implications of Sessions’s inconsistent claims on the perceived credibility of government officials?
Additionally, Sessions’s inconsistencies have lead some to suspect him of perjury. Do you believe that Sessions should be held accountable for his statements?
4 comments:
I think that not only session's inconstancy, but this "scandal" as a whole will not make a big impact on trump's image. As we learned in the media unit, people like to watch political shows that compliment their own opinion, which results in news rarely changing the minds of viewers. Similarly here, the people who don't like trump while continue not liking him, and they will add this as a reason to not like him. The people who do like trump will continue ignoring or blaming the media or whatever they do, and continue liking trump. Overall, people have already formulated their opinions about our president and this won't do much to change it. This might be different within the government. We don't yet know what the connection to Russia is, but the effect of it will be greater within the government, because this could result in an immense loss of credibility for trump, which is more significant in the government than in the opinions of citizens. Trump's image will not change much but his political influence might.
I would claim that these Russian investigations and contradictions provided by Sessions will change Trump's image, especially when clear proof is shown that Trump did affiliate with Russians. Trump has been continuously attributed to false statements given to the media; during his campaign, the term "alternative facts" and "fake news" were even coined. These situations showing up even more with regards to him will gradually dissolve the peoples' trust in him and his campaign, which will definitely ruin his image as a President for generations. As for Sessions' contradictory statements, I would say that they obviously prove that Trump communicated with Putin and Russians, but I also have an obvious bias in that I am not a supporter of Trump. Lastly, I believe Sessions should be held accountable because whether he's telling the truth or not depends on how the American people will view our government and Trump's presidency.
As Lucas stated, I do not think that this development will tarnish Trumps image too much, and although I do not support him, I do not think that this event should tarnish his image. Although Sessions' inconsistencies do appear to cast a negative light on the whole administration, they offer nothing to definitively prove that Trump himself had a connection with the Russians. Sessions' statements only suggested that there was talks of a potential meeting between Trump and Putin, and did nothing to confirm if this meeting actually occurred or not. Now, it certainly does look fishy based on previous events and now Sessions' statements, and to claim that Trump has had connections with the Russians based on all of this is probably a good guess. Despite many liberals, including myself, tending to immediately blaming Trump of committing some sort of treason and committing a crime, in the eyes of his supporters, the rest of the Republicans in Congress, and the law itself, Trump will always remain innocent until proven guilty. Right now, this development with Sessions hasn't done anything to prove Trump guilty, and only time and the progression of the FBI investigation will tell if Trump's actually guilty or not. For now, all that event does is make Sessions look very silly and stupid, and it seems pretty blatant that he has been lying about something. It will be interesting to see how this develops and if he will end up being punished and removed from the administration because of the negative light that this is casting.
Post a Comment