• Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About

Radio America Online News Bureau

‘There’s Really Nothing to This Story’

March 2, 2017 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/3-2-von-spakovsky-blog.mp3

A former Justice Department official says the liberal outrage over Attorney General Jeff Sessions having contact with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 campaign is much ado about nothing and that Democrats are doing whatever they can to thwart the Trump agenda.

He also says reports of a slush fund at the Justice Department created during the Obama years and funneled money to liberal activist groups are a big deal and further evidence that Democrats turned a blind eye to the Justice Department when far more serious things were happening.

It’s the Sessions story that has the media in a frenzy Thursday after Wednesday reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions misled senators during his confirmation hearings in January.

At that hearing, Sen. Al Franken cited CNN reports that officials in the Trump campaign discussed the election on multiple occasions with agents of the Russian government.  When asked by Franken what he would do if the reports were proven true, Sessions indicated he was unaware of such activity.

“I’m not aware of any of those activities.  I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.  And I’m unable to comment on it,” said Sessions during the confirmation hearing.

New revelations show that Sessions was at an event that included Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the Republican National Convention in July 2016.  They also crossed paths later in the year.

Democrats are now accusing Sessions of perjury for that answer and for not clarifying the statement in writing after the hearing.

On Thursday, Sessions did try to clarify.

“I have not met with any Russians at any time to discuss any political campaign,” he told NBC News.

So is Sessions in real political or legal trouble for his testimony under oath or are his critics deliberately blurring the line between communication about the campaign and communication for other purposes?

Former Justice Department official Hans von Spakovsky says this controversy is way overblown.

“Those calls for his resignation are all overblown and there’s no reason for him to resign,” said von Spakovsky, who now runs the Election Law Reform Initiative at the Heritage Foundation.  “There’s really nothing to this story.”

He says the Democrats are still in shock over losing the elections and are lashing out in every possible direction.

“They did not want Jeff Sessions to become attorney general because he’s a conservative, rule of law type of guy.  They’re seizing on this, even though there’s nothing really to it when you dig down into it, because they want to oppose anything the attorney general might do, such as actually start enforcing our immigration laws.  That’s the real goal here,” said von Spakovsky.

But why is there nothing to the story?  Von Spakovsky says you have to understand Sen. Franken’s question in its proper context.

“It’s clear Sen. Franken is asking about communications between the Trump campaign and Russian intermediaries or agents about the election.  Sen. Sessions had no such meetings with the Russians over the elections as a surrogate of the campaign,” said von Spakovsky.

He also says the meetings in question hardly qualify as election collusion.

“One of them was a conference at which there was a hundred people, ambassadors and their staff.  They had been invited to observe the RNC convention by the State Department.  The Heritage Foundation, a number of other organizations and the U.S. State Department had this conference at which Jeff Sessions was the keynote speaker,” said von Spakovsky.

“The idea that he engaged in some hush-hush conspiracy talk with the Russian ambassador in a conference with a hundred folks where he’s giving the keynote speech is just ridiculous,” said von Spakovsky.

“The only other meeting was a meeting when he was a member of the (Senate) Armed Services Committee and he had a meeting with the Russian ambassador last year in which they talked about relations between the countries, no discussion of the election,” said von Spakovsky, noting Sessions met with roughly two dozen ambassadors in 2016.

Several Republicans are joining Democrats in demanding Sessions recuse himself from the federal investigation into Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 elections and any collusion it had with the Trump campaign.  Von Spakovsky says there’s nothing for Sessions to recuse himself from.

“That’s premature because at the moment there’s nothing in front of the attorney general.  The FBI has not sent over any kind of investigative file  for him to look at,” said von Spakovsky.

While Sessions stands in the media and political cross hairs, the Obama Justice Department is under fire for operating a slush fund to give a boost to liberal activist groups.  Instead of sending money won through legal cases to the U.S. Treasury, the Justice Department instead sent billions to activist groups, including the National Council of La Raza, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and the National Urban League.

Von Spakovsky and co-author John Fund exposed this slush fund in their book, “Obama’s Enforcer,” which details the legacy of former Attorney General Eric Holder.  Von Spakovsky says this activity is unique to the Obama Justice Department.

“This has been an open secret in Washington for years, but nothing has been done about it.  I would hope the new attorney general would this down and, frankly, go in and try to get these funds back if that can possibly happen,” said von Spakovsky.

He admits the action is most likely no illegal but he says it should never be done.

“I do think it was unethical.  I think any funds recovered by the federal government in a lawsuit should go to the U.S. Treasury because they belong to the American taxpayer.  Those funds should not be given to third party advocacy organizations, certainly not political organizations like La Raza,” said von Spakovsky.

Von Spakovsky says Holder politicized the Justice Department far more than any of his predecessors and adds that Loretta Lynch was no better.  He notes the federal judges scolded DOJ attorneys for their unethical conduct and Holder was the only attorney general in history to be held in contempt of Congress for withholding documents related to the ill-fated and deadly “Fast and Furious” gun-running operation.

He says the people now venting over Sessions had no problems with the Justice Department from 2009-2017.

“We never heard any complaints whatsoever from Chuck Schumer or any other Democrats about that behavior,” said von Spakovsky.

Standard Podcast [ 8:51 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: campaign, DOJ, fund, groups, Holder, liberal, news, russia, Sessions, slush

Reader Interactions

Primary Sidebar

Recent

  • Dems Still in Disarray, Will Two More Weeks Land a Nuke Deal? The Damage AI Is Already Doing
  • Mossad’s Masterful Bunker Trap, Trump Still Pursuing Nuke Deal, Dems Amnesty Delusion
  • Trump Keeps Iran Guessing, Supremes Uphold Tennessee Trans Law, More Dem Deportation Drama
  • Trump Warns Tehran, Does Trump Trust Tulsi? Mayor Bass Admits Exploiting Illegals
  • Iran Begs for Ceasefire, NY Times Unloads on Mamdani, Fake Cop Targets Minnesota Lawmakers

Archives

  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in