|
There is nothing wrong with a US politician meeting with someone from a foreign government. However, there are rules and protocols to be followed. While they don't need to get permission from the State Department, it's best to notify them in advance. This way they can send an expert to brief you on what to expect, what they might want or ask for, and what problems or traps to avoid. After the meeting, the State Department will want to speak to you to debrief you. Depending on who you are taking to and or what country they are from, the CIA or another intelligence agency might want to debrief you also to see what they can learn from this.
This is routine.
On the other hand we have Jeff Sessions. Sessions was on the Committee on Armed Services, one of the most important committees we have. He met with the Russian ambassador three times. Not once did he clear this before hand with the State Department, nor was he debriefed by the CIA (etc). Sessions claims his meetings were routine for his work on the Committee, yet he was the ONLY one of twenty-seven people on the committee to meet with the Russian ambassador in the past four years. In fact, a member of the Committee on Armed Services should NEVER be meeting with the Russian government in private EVER.
Explain to me why Jeff Sessions is meeting with the Russian ambassador in private three times. More importantly, explain to me why the Russian ambassador was at the Republican convention in the first place.
|