Trump attacks Washington Post report on Sessions Russia meeting

US President Donald Trump went on the offensive on Saturday morning, after the Washington Post reported that his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, discussed Trump’s White House bid with the Russian ambassador to Washington in 2016, the Guardian reports. The president did not defend Sessions, whom earlier this week he criticised strongly for his recusal from the Russia investigation. Instead, Trump complained about “illegal leaks” and demanded: “Why isn’t the AG or Special Council [sic] looking at the many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000 e-mails deleted?” The Post report cited US intelligence intercepts which contradict Sessions’ assurances that the campaign was not discussed. Sergey Kislyak told his superiors in Moscow he talked about campaign-related matters and significant policy issues during two meetings with Sessions, according to current and former US intelligence officials, the Washington Post reported on Friday. The ambassador’s accounts of the meetings, which US spy agencies intercepted, clash with those of Sessions and pile fresh pressure on the attorney general just days after the president publicly criticised him. On Saturday morning, Trump tweeted his anger. On Friday, Gen Raymond Thomas, head of Special Operations Command, blamed a “media leak” for one instance of Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, escaping capture or death. Trump did not immediately follow up or expand his argument, instead tweeting about a speaking engagement in Norfolk, Virginia. He then tweeted a reference to reports, met with horror among Democrats, that White House advisers were exploring the possibility of presidential pardons. “While all agree the US President has the complete power to pardon,” Trump wrote, “why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us.FAKE NEWS.” The Post cited an unnamed US official who called Sessions’ statements “misleading” and “contradicted by other evidence”. An unnamed former official said the intelligence indicated Sessions and Kislyak had “substantive” discussions on matters including Trump’s positions on Russia-related issues and prospects for bilateral relations in a Trump administration, the paper reported. The officials acknowledged that the ambassador could have mischaracterised the meetings in his briefings to Moscow. The attorney general has repeatedly said he never discussed campaign-related issues with Russian officials and that it was in his capacity as a senator, not a Trump surrogate, that he met Kislyak. “I never had meetings with Russian operatives or Russian intermediaries about the Trump campaign,” he said in March. The president, marking six months in office, appeared to be venting concern that the investigation headed by special counsel Robert Mueller was reportedly expanding to include his business ties with Russia. The report about the Russian ambassador capped another tumultuous day in Washington. Sean Spicer resigned as White House press secretary, ending a controversial tenure as the administration’s public face. He stepped down after the president tapped Anthony Scaramucci, a New York financier and longtime Trump supporter, as the new White House communications director.