Cheriss May/NurPhoto via ZUMA
Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have both said they were unaware of any connections between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. However, the New York Times is running with a story today saying that recently unsealed court documents “cast doubt” on this. They’re talking about the charging document against George Papadopoulos, and this is the relevant paragraph:
I considered writing about this yesterday, but backed off. Both Trump and Sessions were at this “national security meeting,” but all this document says is that Papadopoulos claimed he had contacts in Russia and could set up a meeting. Other sources say that Trump asked a few questions and Sessions urgently advised against any talks with Russians. Given this, I figured that both men could truthfully say they were unaware of any contacts. They were aware that a staffer said he knew people and could set something up, but he was shut down and nothing ever happened.
At least, that’s all we know based on this document—though it’s certainly possible that something more happened later on. This is obviously something that’s worth following up, but for now it should be treated with a bit of caution.