«Do you like Jason Bourne or James Bond movie?» the Senator asked the Jeff Sessions.<\/b>
\nArkansas Senator Tom Cotton earned a spot on the highlight reel from Jeff Sessions’ testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday when he began asking the attorney general about his affinity for spy stories.
«Do like spy fiction?» Cotton asked, listing authors like John LeCarr\u00e9, Daniel Silva and Jason Matthews. Sessions said he did, adding that he’d just finished reading a spy novel by David Ignatius.
«Do you like Jason Bourne or James Bond movie?» Cotton then asked.
Sessions toyingly said no initially, before admitting that he does.
«Have you ever, in any of these fantastical situations, heard of a plot line so ridiculous that a sitting United States senator and an ambassador of a foreign government colluded at an open setting with hundreds of other people to pull off the greatest caper in the history of espionage?» Cotton asked.
#SenCotton asks the most important question of the #SessionsHearing\u2026 @SenTomCotton @TomCottonAR #SessionsDay #Sessions #SessionsHearings pic.twitter.com\/hOGWIuiqs1
Cotton was referring to Sessions meeting Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at an event at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington in April 2016. Sessions failed to disclose that meeting when asked during a previous Senate hearing if he had ever met with any Russian officials. Some lawmakers and pundits have accused the attorney general of perjury and implied something improper may have occurred at the meeting.
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Sessions was effusively grateful for Cotton’s attempt to paint those theories as absurd.
«Thank you for saying that, Senator Cotton, » Sessions said. «It’s just like through the looking glass. I mean what is this? I explained how, in good faith, I said I had not met with Russians because they were suggesting I, as a surrogate, had been meeting continuously with Russians. I said I didn’t meet with them. And now, the next thing you know, I’m accused of some reception plotting some sort of influence campaign for the American election. It’s just beyond my capability to understand and I really appreciate, Mr. Chairman, the opportunity to at least to be able to say publicly I didn’t participate in that and know nothing about it.»
The exchange quickly gained the attention of Twitter users from both sides of the political fence:
BRAVO, Sen. Cotton! WELL DONE! You spoke TRUTH, amidst this EMBARRASSMENT for the United States! Through the Looking Glass, indeed! @POTUS pic.twitter.com\/LUm8RJ82no
OMFG!<\/p>\n