Michael Medved: There’s no Jeff Sessions scandal

“I’ve had contact with Russian officials, I guess you could say,” said Michael Medved. “And I’m nobody.”

Medved told KIRO Radio’s Ron and Don that he’s been on Russian Today TV, but that probably doesn’t count as contact. And furthermore, what Attorney General Jeff Sessions acknowledged on Thursday is very normal for U.S. senators. His office even put forward a list of ambassadors that Sessions met with last year because he’s a senior ranking member of the Senate Arms Services Committee.

“It’s nothing unusual or even suspect to meet with foreign diplomats if you’re a member of Congress.”

Medved said he’s not a big fan of Jeff Sessions but in this case, he thinks the AG got a raw deal.

Sessions agreed Thursday to recuse himself from an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. His action followed revelations he twice met with the Russian ambassador and didn’t say so when pressed by Congress.

At the confirmation hearing in January, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked Sessions about allegations of contact between Russia and Trump aides during the election.

Sessions said, “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I didn’t have, did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it.”

“If you listen to the whole question that Al Franken asked, he asked that question with the context of that Buzzfeed story, a story about Trump in a hotel room with prostitutes. So he said this is the day that was released. He said we just had this story and I know you don’t know anything about it because it’s a new, breaking story but it says there were high-level surrogates, the Trump campaign surrogate, and Russian officials.”

“He then asked, with that introduction, ‘What would your reaction be if you found out if any of this was true?’ (Sessions) answered that he had no contact with Russian officials, clearly in that context.”

What’s interesting, for Medved, is that Sessions has recused himself not only from the investigation into Trump and the Russians, but he’s recused himself from any investigations into the campaign at all.

“That’s appropriate and not just for the Trump campaign, but for the Hillary Clinton campaign.”

The appearance of Session presiding over an investigation into the Clinton campaign would be improper, Medved said.

Follow @http://twitter.com/Mynorthwest