The Office found no evidence that Kislyak conversed with either Trump or Sessions after the speech, or would have had the opportunity to do so. Simes, for example, did not recall seeing Kislyak at the post-speech luncheon,632 and the only witness who accounted for Sessions’s whereabouts stated that Sessions may have spoken to the press after the event but then departed for Capitol Hill.633 Saunders recalled, based in part on a food-related request he received from a Campaign staff member, that Trump left the hotel a few minutes after the speech to go to the airport.634
c. Jeff Sessions’s Post-Speech Interactions with CNI
In the wake of Sessions’s confirmation hearings as Attorney General, questions arose about whether Sessions’s campaign-period interactions with CNI apart from the Mayflower speech included any additional meetings with Ambassador Kislyak or involved Russian-related matters. With respect to Kislyak contacts, on May 23, 2016, Sessions attended CNI’s Distinguished Service Award dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C.635 Sessions attended a pre-dinner reception and was seated at one of two head tables for the event.636 A seating chart prepared by Saunders indicates that Sessions was scheduled to be seated next to Kislyak, who appears to have responded to the invitation by indicating he would attend the event.637 Sessions, however, did not remember seeing, speaking with, or sitting next to Kislyak at the dinner.638 Although CNI board member Charles Boyd said he may have seen Kislyak at the dinner, 639 Simes, Saunders, and Jacob Heilbrunn—editor of the National Interest—all had no recollection of seeing Kislyak at the May 23 event.640 Kislyak also does not appear in any of the photos from the event that the Office obtained.
So, whenever Kislyak was in attendance Trump and Sessions distanced themselves from him. However, there was a decision from somewhere that put Sessions and Kislyak at the same table, but, Kislyak was a no show. Why the photos?...He then amended (click here) his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony to note the two reported interactions he had with Kislyak. In the amended testimony, the former Alabama senator said he spoke "briefly" in July 2016 to the Russian ambassador during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. He also said that he spoke with the Russian ambassador in September 2016 in his Senate office with his staff members. He said he did not initially list those meetings because he did not think they were relevant to the questions asked during the confirmation proceedings....
In the summer of 2016, CNI organized at least two dinners in Washington, D.C. for Sessions to meet with experienced foreign policy professionals.641 The dinners included CNI affiliated individuals, such as Richard Burt and Zalmay Khalilzad, a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq and the person who had introduced Trump before the April 27, 2016 foreign policy speech.642 Khalilzad also met with Sessions one-on-one separately from the dinners.643 At the dinners and in the meetings, the participants addressed U.S. relations with Russia, including how U.S. relations with NATO and European countries affected U.S. policy toward Russia.644 But the discussions were not exclusively focused on Russia.645 Khalilzad, for example, recalled discussing “nation-building” and violent extremism with Sessions.646 In addition, Sessions asked Saunders (of CNI) to draft two memoranda not specific to Russia: one on Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy shortcomings and another on Egypt.647
Footnote 632 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 22; Heilbrunn 2/1/18 302, at 7.
Footnote 633 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 4.
Footnote 634 Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 15.
Footnote 635 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 22; Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 17.
Footnote 636 Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 17; C00004779-80 (5/23/16 Email, Cantelmo to Saunders & Hagberg (9:30:12 a.m.); C00004362 (5/23/16 Email, Bauman to Cantelmo et al. (2:02:32 a.m.).
Footnote 637 C00004362 (5/23/16 Email Bauman to Cantelmo et al. (2:02:32 a.m.).
Footnote 638 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 22.
Footnote 639 Boyd 1/24/18 302, at 4.
Footnote 640 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 23; Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 18; Heilbrunn 2/1/18 302, at 7.
Footnote 641 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 31; Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 19; Burt 2/9/18 302, at 9-10; Khalilzad 1/9/18 302, at 5.
Footnote 642 Burt 2/9/18 302, at 9-10; Khalilzad 1/9/18 302, at 1-2, 5.
Footnote 643 Khalilzad 1/9/18 302, at 5-6.
Footnote 644 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 31; Burt 2/9/18 302, at 9-10; Khalilzad 1/9/18 302, at 5.
Footnote 645 Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 20.
Footnote 646 Khalilzad 1/9/18 302, at 6.
Footnote 647 Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 19-20.
All the footnotes seem to be within the evidence file of the Special Counsel.
...to be continued in next entry...
