Jeff Sessions often says he first became enamored with Donald Trump in 2005 when Trump testified before the Homeland Security Committee, which was squabbling over plans to spend $1.3 billion on renovations to the U.N. building in New York City. Trump came to boast that he had recently renovated his similarly sized Trump Tower for $300 million.
Sessions hung on Trump’s every word.
"He's a breath of fresh air for this Senate and he ought to embarrass all of us because all of us have oversight committees that are not doing a good job," gushed Sessions when Trump was done.
Putting aside that we all have since learned Trump keeps costs low on building projects by not paying people for their work, and that we have no way of verifying his business claims because he refuses to release his taxes, a dozen years later, Jeff Sessions’s love for Donald Trump hasn't waned.
Sessions was the only U.S. Senator to back Trump before he became the presumptive nominee. He headed the Trump campaign's foreign policy team and was Trump's most visible campaign surrogate. He also loaned out most of his Senate office's senior staff to the Trump Campaign.
After Trump got elected president, Sessions's loyalty was rewarded with a plum spot on the transition team's leadership, and later as Trump's pick for Attorney General.
The topic of loyalty, and how Trump values and rewards, has been well explored. James Comey suggested in a Senate hearing last week that his lack of loyalty—bluntly demanded by Trump—was the reason he was fired as director of the FBI.
Earlier, Sessions’s office produced a memo arguing that Comey had mishandled of the Clinton email server investigation. (Nevermind that both Sessions and Trump praised Comey after he jolted the 2016 presidential race by announcing he had reopened the investigation days before election day.)
This week Sessions came forward to give awkward testimony about the reasons behind Comey’s termination and his own initially undisclosed meetings with Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak.
Sessions, predictably, denied any wrongdoing in his meetings with Kislyak and claimed Comey’s firing was all about his poor performance.
Ranking minority member, Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, asked perhaps the best question of the hearing: “Did you ever have a conversation as a superior of director Comey with his failure to perform or some of these accusations that he was not running in a good way and somehow the FBI is in turmoil. Did you have any conversations about the subjects?”
“I did not,” Sessions responded.
“So you were his superior and there were fairly harsh things said about director Comey. You never thought it was appropriate to raise those concerns before he was absolutely terminated by the President?”
"I did not do so."
Next, Senator Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho, offered some unintentional friendly fire, making the absurd argument that Senators running into high-level foreign ambassadors are "everyday occurrences." Indeed, he said, “you run into one in the grocery store." Sessions nodded and said, "That could very well happen."
Then Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat, noted that even Trump did not agree with his version of why Comey was fired, saying publically that he was thinking about the Russia probe and privately that it was to relieve "pressure" from the Russia investigation. Sessions stuck to his guns, saying it was his office's idea to fire Comey.
Feinstein pressed on, asking if Sessions and Trump had discussed Comey's handling of the Russian investigation. Sessions refused to answer, "Senator Feinstein, that would call for a communication between the director and the President and I'm not able to comment on that."
Back to the Republican side. Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, focused on the White House meeting where Sessions was present in the Oval Office with Comey and others and Trump asked everyone except Comey to leave. Comey had testified that Sessions lingered behind and seemed leery about Trump asking to speak to the FBI director alone.
Sessions seemed to sweat on this exchange, parsing his words carefully and painting himself as being unable to remember what happened. Sessions said “I don’t remember” or “I don’t recall” 26 times during the hearing.
Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, accused Sessions of stonewalling over why he recused himself from the Russia investigation. Sessions angrily responded, "I am not stonewalling!"
Sessions said “I don’t remember” or “I don’t recall” 26 times during the hearing.
Sessions then curiously claimed he recused himself not because it had come to light that he had met multiple times with the Russian ambassador, but because of his close connection with the Trump campaign.
Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, repeatedly tried to ask Sessions about basic questions that would likely come up in a meeting with a Russian Ambassador. Sessions painfully kept answering that he didn't recall what topics came up, finally saying, "I just don't have a real recall of the meeting."
And with that, a battered Session was finally done. The reward for his efforts came in the form of a tweet delivered by the President’s son, Donald Jr. "Crushed it."