Last week, allegations arose that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had held meetings with the Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak on two separate occasions during the Trump campaign.  As a senator, Sessions met with the Russian diplomat over the summer at the 2016 Republican National Convention, and on September 8th in his office.  This news sparked massive outrage, for Sessions had previously denied any contact with Russian officials at his confirmation hearings, saying in response to a question asked by Senator Al Franken, “I didn’t have — did not have communications with the Russians.”  

Later in the week, Sessions was forced to hold a press conference in which he addressed the issues circulating around him and the Trump administration.  At the conference, he stated categorically that he will recuse himself from the investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, and admitted that he had not been completely forthright with his information.     “In my reply to the question — my reply to the question of Senator Franken was honest and correct as I understood it at the time. I appreciate that some have taken the view that this was a false comment.That is not my intent. That is not correct.”

Attorney General Sessions believed that the two meetings that had taken place were not relevant to the question asked by Senator Franken at the time of the hearings.  Due to his role as a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, Sessions met with many ambassadors and diplomats from time to time.  Therefore, he felt that they had nothing to do with his role as a Trump campaign surrogate.  

In regards to the nature of the meeting on September 8th, Sessions said, “And somehow the subject of the Ukraine came up. I had had the Ukraine ambassador in my office the day before. And to listen to him, nothing that Russia — Russia had done nothing that was wrong in any area, and everybody else was wrong with regard to the Ukraine. It got to be a little bit of a testy conversation at that point.  It wrapped up, he said something about inviting me to have lunch. I did not accept that, and that never occurred.”  

Since Jeff Sessions recusal from the investigation into the campaign’s ties with Russia, President Trump has grown frustrated with his senior staff.  Recent reports have suggested that Trump was especially frustrated with his chief of staff Reince Priebus for allowing the attorney general’s controversy to take away from his well-received congressional address last Tuesday.  Although it was denied by the White House, many sources say that the president thoroughly “chewedout” Priebus and his senior staff in the Oval Office.  

As if things could get any worse for the Trump Administration, more reporting found that several other prominent Trump officials met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak over the last months.

Some of these officials include Trump’s son-in-law and national security advisor Jared Kushner, and Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who denied ever meeting Kislyak.  The list also includes retired General Michael Flynn, and Trump advisor J.D. Gordon, who reluctantly admitted to having met with the Russian ambassador on a few occasions.

The constant bad press regarding the ties between President Trump and the Russian government appear to be gaining momentum, but have yet to hurt the administration in any significant nature.  Besides the forced resignation of National Security Advisor and retired General Michael Flynn, no prominent Trump officials have gotten into any real legal trouble.  However, where there is smoke there is usually fire, and the Trump administration must be ready to deal with these allegations in the coming weeks.