WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page testified in a closed Congressional hearing on Thursday that he notified Sessions that he was traveling to Russia during the presidential campaign, CNN reported on Thursday.
Page told CNN that he mentioned the details to Sessions in "passing" in June 2016 that he would be giving a speech at a university in Moscow.
This testimony is troubling news for Sessions who did not disclose communications about Russia during three separate hearings this year, the report said.
Gerald Horne, a University of Houston professor of African-American history, told Sputnik on Friday that while Trump was the ultimate target of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 US election, the president had lost confidence in Sessions anyway.
"Trump just suggested he wants Sessions to go," Horne, an expert on US politics, said.
Former senior Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who runs Breitbart News and who is a strong supporter of the president, is now expressing concern that Trump may not even be allowed to complete his full four year term in office.
"Steve Bannon suggests Trump may not finish his term," Horne said.
Instead, "Confront Russia" hawks with virtually total support from both parties in Congress had pressured Trump to abandon his attempts to get along with Moscow and imposed harsh new economic sanctions on Russia instead, Horne recalled.
"Issue: Bitter split in ruling elite pitting Confront Russia first so US can better go after China vs. Trump's original Confront China first," he said.
Even though Trump had clearly abandoned his efforts to cooperate with Russia, his enemies in the US political elite were implacable and they appeared determined to force the president out of power anyway, Horne observed.
Trump "was forced from that stance and now may be ousted altogether," he said.
Michael Brenner, a University of Pittsburgh professor of international affairs, agreed that Page's reported testimony could damage Sessions. But he said this would prove of limited significance compared with bigger issues embarrassing to Trump that Mueller's probe was expected to uncover.
Page's visit to Russia and Sessions's alleged knowledge of it "will be overshadowed by more stunning revelations soon — but in itself it is something," Brenner said.
There appeared to have been a widespread awareness within the 2016 Trump campaign that Page had visited Russia and therefore any casual awareness of his trip by Sessions was likely unimportant, Brenner explained.
"There seems little doubt that this was widely known," he said.
The confusion of who knew about Page's visit to Russia and when they did could be easily explained as a side-effect of the chaotic way Trump's election campaign was run, Brenner noted.
"After all, the Trump campaign was a haphazard operation ignorant of, and disparaging of all rules, norms and laws," he said.
The latest controversies were unlikely to damage the president's national standing further since they came as no surprise to either his supporters or his enemies, Brenner remarked.
"In an administration where lying is as natural as truth-telling, and in a political culture, where this is widely accepted, the damage is limited — unless there was a clear act of perjury," he said.
"Trump supporters actually are gratified by the lies… it strengthens their prejudices that are threatened by facts," he said.
Trump had acted correctly in not banning his advisers from going abroad during the campaign, Brenner commented.
"This is the way he conducts all his affairs. Speaking to foreigners by candidates is common practice," he said.
However, Trump's conduct of affairs during the campaign and as president urgently required close and critical scrutiny, Brenner cautioned.
"It's the illicit purposes, devious methods, and unsavory persons involved that make Trump's activities an issue," he said.
