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East Oregonian
Friday, March 3, 2017
Sessions steps aside from Russia probe
By ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Under
intensifying pressure, Attorney
General Jeff Sessions abruptly
agreed Thursday to recuse
himself from any investigation
into Russian meddling in Amer-
ica’s 2016 presidential election.
He acted after revelations he
twice spoke with the Russian
ambassador during the campaign
and failed to say so when pressed
by Congress.
Sessions rejected any sugges-
tion that he had tried to mislead
anyone about his contacts with
the Russian, saying, “That is not
my intent. That is not correct.”
But he did allow that he
should have been more careful
in his testimony during his
confirmation hearing, saying, “I
should have slowed down and
said, ‘But I did meet one Russian
official a couple of times.’”
The White House has stood
by Sessions in the latest contro-
versy to dog President Donald
Trump’s young administration,
though officials say they first
learned about his contacts with
the ambassador from a reporter
Wednesday
night.
Trump
himself said Thursday he had
“total” confidence in Sessions
and didn’t think he needed
to recuse himself — not long
before he did.
Trump later laid the contro-
versy at the feet of Democrats,
saying they are trying to save
face. “The Democrats are over-
playing their hand,” he said in a
statement Thursday night. “They
lost the election and now, they
have lost their grip on reality.
The real story is all of the illegal
leaks of classified and other
information. It is a total witch
hunt!”
One of Sessions’ conversa-
tions with Ambassador Sergey
Kislyak occurred at a July event
on the sidelines of the Repub-
lican National Convention in
Cleveland. At that same event,
the ambassador also spoke
with Carter Page, who briefly
advised Trump’s campaign on
foreign policy, according to a
person with knowledge of the
discussion.
Separately, a White House
official said Thursday that
Trump’s son-in-law, Jared
Kushner, and ousted national
security adviser Michael Flynn
met with Kislyak at Trump Tower
in New York in December. The
AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File
In this Jan. 10 photo, then-Attorney General-designate, Sen.
Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., testifies on Capitol Hill at his confir-
mation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
official described that sit-down
as a brief courtesy meeting.
Flynn was fired last month
for misleading Vice President
Mike Pence about his contacts
with Kislyak.
The Trump team’s account
of Flynn’s contacts with the
ambassador has changed several
times. The White House did not
disclose the in-person meeting,
or Kushner’s involvement, until
Thursday.
Both the White House official
and the person with knowledge
of Page’s discussion insisted
on anonymity because they
were not authorized to publicly
disclose the meetings.
Trump has been trailed for
months by questions about
potential ties to Russia, and
allegations of Russian efforts to
interfere in the U.S. election to
help him defeat Hillary Clinton.
The new president and his
campaign officials have blamed
such contentions on Democratic
sore losers and have heatedly
denied any contact with Russians
concerning the election.
While there is nothing
necessarily nefarious or even
unusual about a member of
Congress meeting with a
foreign ambassador, typically
members of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee meet with
foreign ambassadors, not Armed
Services Committee lawmakers,
such as Sessions, whose
responsibility is oversight of the
military and the Pentagon.
The latest development comes
on the heels of what had been the
high point of Trump’s young
presidency: a well-received
address to Congress Tuesday
WOLF: Oregon
is home to at least
110 known wolves
Continued from 1A
coyotes tug on a bait that releases a
plunger that shoots sodium cyanide
powder directly into their mouths. The
animals usually die within one to five
minutes.
The Oregon Department of Fish &
Wildlife had recently collared the wolf,
OR-48, on Feb. 10. At the time, the
male weighed more than 100 pounds
and was estimated to be just under 2
years old. It was not one of the pack’s
breeding wolves.
“The death of this wolf shows the
risk involved when wolves are in areas
where Wildlife Services conducts these
types of operations,” said Doug Cottam,
ODFW wildlife division administrator.
“This is a situation we take seriously,
and we’ll be working with Wildlife
Services with the goal of preventing it
from happening again.”
ODFW spokesman Rick Hargrave
said M-44s were prohibited in areas
where wolves are known to be active
while the predators were still listed on
the state Endangered Species List. The
Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commis-
sion delisted wolves in 2016, though
Hargrave said the department had
spoken with Wildlife Services to keep
the devices out of wolf territory.
“I just know we had discussions with
them that we didn’t want those devices
in a known wolf area,” Hargrave said.
“In our minds, I think there was a
general agreement.
“We’re certainly going to go back,
reiterate those concerns and find out
where there was a communication
breakdown,” Hargrave added.
Dave Williams, state director for
USDA Wildlife Services in Oregon,
said they have begun an internal review
of the incident. He said the agency
“works hard to prevent the uninten-
tional take of animals when addressing
human-wildlife conflicts.”
At last count, Oregon is home to
at least 110 known wolves, though
that total is likely much higher. Harsh
winter weather has delayed ODFW’s
latest population report, which will
be delivered to the Fish and Wildlife
Commission at its meeting April 21 in
Klamath Falls.
———
Contact George Plaven at gplaven@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0825.
night that energized Republicans
and appeared to wipe away some
lawmakers’ concerns about the
administration’s
tumultuous
start.
But Sessions faced a rising
chorus of demands that he
resolve the seeming contradic-
tion between his two conversa-
tions in the summer and fall with
Kislyak and his sworn statements
to Congress in January, when he
said he had not had communica-
tions with Russians during the
campaign.
The Justice Department said
he met with Kislyak in his role as
a member of the Senate Armed
Services Committee, not in his
role as a Trump adviser with
the campaign, and that led to his
answers.
The attorney general, an
early backer and key adviser
for Trump’s campaign, said he
decided to recuse himself for
investigations that are underway
and others to come after his staff
recommended he do so. Acting
Deputy Attorney General Dana
Boente will handle such matters
for now.
Sessions added that his
announcement “should not be
interpreted as confirmation of the
existence of any investigation.”
Some Democrats called for
Sessions not only to recuse
himself but to resign.
House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi, who had accused
Sessions of “lying under oath,”
repeated her call for his resig-
nation after he recused himself.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck
Schumer said a special prosecutor
should be appointed to examine
whether the federal investigation
into Kremlin meddling — and
into possible contacts between
Trump associates and Russians
— had been compromised by
Sessions. Democrats also sought
a criminal perjury investigation.
More than a half dozen
Republican
lawmakers,
including some who consider
themselves personally close
to Sessions, had urged him to
recuse himself from the probe.
Sen. Tom Cole of Oklahoma
said he didn’t believe Sessions
could have colluded with Russia,
but “If there is an investigation,
he probably shouldn’t be the
person leading it.”
The Justice Department
acknowledged two separate
Sessions interactions with
Kislyak, both coming after
cybersecurity
firms
had
concluded that Russian intel-
ligence agencies were behind
cyber-hacking of the Democratic
National Committee.
The first occurred after a Heri-
tage Foundation event during the
Republican National Convention
in July, when the department
says a group of envoys —
including the Russian ambas-
sador — approached Sessions.
The second was a September
conversation, which the depart-
ment likened to the more than
25 discussions Sessions had with
foreign ambassadors last year as
a senior member of the Senate
Armed Services Committee.
But Sessions did not disclose
his discussions with Kislyak at
his Senate confirmation hearing
in January when asked what he
would do if “anyone affiliated”
with the campaign had been
in contact with officials of the
Russian government.
Sessions said he knew of
no such contacts. He added, “I
have been called a surrogate at
a time or two in that campaign
and I didn’t have, did not have
communications
with
the
Russians, and I’m unable to
comment on it.”
He answered “no” in a written
questionnaire when asked about
contacts regarding the election.
Dmitry
Peskov,
the
spokesman for Russian Pres-
ident Vladimir Putin, said
it was normal for Russian
diplomats to meet with U.S.
lawmakers. A spokeswoman for
the Russian Foreign Ministry,
Maria Zakharova, told AP
that meetings with American
political figures were part of the
embassy’s “everyday business.”
Pence used a private
email account to
conduct state business
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President
Mike Pence used a private email account to
conduct public business as Indiana’s governor,
according to public records obtained by the
Indianapolis Star.
The newspaper reported Thursday that emails
provided through a public records request show
that Pence communicated with advisers through
his personal AOL account on homeland security
matters and security at the governor’s residence
during his four years as governor.
The governor also faced email security
issues. Pence’s AOL account was subjected
to a phishing scheme last spring, before he
was chosen by Donald Trump to join the GOP
presidential ticket. Pence’s contacts were sent an
email falsely claiming that the governor and his
wife were stranded in the Philippines and needed
money.
The governor moved to a different AOL
account with additional security measures,
Pence spokesman Marc Lotter said, but has since
stopped using the new personal account since he
was sworn-in as vice president.
Lotter said Pence “maintained a state email
account and a personal email account” like
previous governors in the state. At the end of his
term Pence directed outside counsel to review all
of his communications to ensure that state-related
emails were transferred and properly archived by
the state, the spokesman said.
As Trump’s running mate, Pence frequently
criticized rival Hillary Clinton’s use of a private
email server as President Barack Obama’s secre-
tary of state, accusing her of purposely keeping
her emails out of public reach and shielding her
from scrutiny.
Lotter said “the comparison is absurd”
because Clinton had set up a private server in her
home at the start of her tenure at the State Depart-
ment and, unlike Clinton, Pence did not handle
any classified material as Indiana’s governor.
The newspaper reported that the office of
Pence’s successor, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb,
released more than 30 pages from Pence’s AOL
account, but declined to release an unspecified
number of emails because they were considered
confidential.
Public officials are not barred from using
personal email accounts under Indiana law, but
the law is interpreted to mean that any official
business conducted on private email must be
retained to comply with public record laws.
The state requires all records pertaining to
state business to be retained and available for
public information requests. Emails involving
state email accounts are captured on the state’s
servers, but any emails that Pence may have sent
from his AOL account to another private account
would need to be retained.
At the end of his term, Pence hired the
Indianapolis law firm of Barnes & Thornburg to
conduct a review of all of his communications
and that review is still ongoing, Lotter said. Any
correspondence between Pence’s AOL account
and any aides using a state email account would
have been automatically archived, he said.
PENDLETON: Two other musical acts will open for the band
Continued from 1A
sold at the inaugural Whisky Fest
featuring Zac Brown Band and
how they can increase it this year.
While Zac Brown Band
is popular in its own right,
the organizers sought a more
contemporary pop sound that
could attract people from across
the Northwest.
Some of the Whisky Fest’s
marketing efforts will be focused
on Portland, Seattle and Boise.
The
Los Angeles-based
band has been around since the
mid-1990s, when they performed
under the name Kara’s Flowers.
Maroon 5 had changed their
name by the time they released
their breakout album, 2002’s
“Songs About Jane,” which sold
more than 10 million copies.
The band saw another surge
in popularity when they released
the single “Moves Like Jagger”
in 2011, which coincided with
lead singer Adam Levine’s turn
as a judge on the NBC singing
competition “The Voice.”
Although the 17,000-seat
Round-Up arena is in line with
some of Maroon 5’s typical
venues, McAnally said hosting
the band in small-town Pendleton
will still be a test.
“This is a big year,” he said.
“This will prove if Pendleton,
Oregon and the Round-Up arena
can support (a concert this big).”
The organizers are also eager
to prove they can limit the wait
time for drinks, one of the main
complaints that arose from last
year’s event.
To avoid long lines and
bottlenecks, they are bringing
in more beverage stations with
more servers, spreading out their
stations to avoid congestion and
implementing a drink chip system
to speed up transactions.
Pat Beard, the event recruiter
for Travel Pendleton, was also
excited by Whisky Fest’s poten-
tial.
“There are communities 10
times our size that would love to
have an event like this,” he said.
Beard anticipated Whisky
Fest would bring 20,000 people
to town, which could be matched
the following weekend by Pend-
leton Bike Week attendees.
Beard said some hotels and
restaurants were caught flatfooted
during the back-to-back events
last July. The Pendleton Chamber
of Commerce is in contact with
many of them so they’re prepared
for the rush of new customers.
These relatively new events
are a change of pace for Pend-
leton’s tourism industry, which
used to mostly revolve around
the Round-Up and the 2A boys
basketball tournament. Beard said
tourism is evolving to include
a variety of events for different
audiences.
Although Round-Up is still
king, Beard referenced a weekend
in April when Pendleton will host
the Walla Walla Kennel Club dog
show, the Doolittle Raider Gala
and a live taping of the Live Wire
radio program.
Beard said new tourism can
bring new challenges, like a strain
on Pendleton’s public safety
services, but it’s also adding
steam to the idea that tourism is
an increasingly important part of
Pendleton’s economy.
The Maroon 5 concert won’t
be the only performance on
the bill. Corey said two other
musical acts will open for the
band, although they haven’t been
secured yet. This is in addition
to a DJ who will spin music in
between the live performances.
Tickets go on sale March 10
and range from $70 for grand-
stand seats to $175 for a premium
seat package that includes a seat
on the grass, a private entrance
and early entry.
DOWNTOWN: Discussed erecting signs to help visitors find parking
Continued from 1A
had shown five major challenges
that stakeholders believe need
addressed in order to help down-
town thrive.
Those challenges are a
shortage of retail and restaurants,
a perceived lack of parking, a need
for building upkeep and renova-
tion, a need for beautification and
a shortage of downtown events
and activities.
Some of those problems
are already being addressed in
disparate ways by groups like the
Hermiston Downtown District
and the city. First Thursday events
at the beginning of each month are
now a fixture, for example, and
shoppers drawn to Main Street
businesses this Thursday were a
sign that the effort is paying off.
Kathy Lowe was there for First
Thursday, and said she sees signs
that downtown is already being
revitalized from where it was a
few years ago.
“This is my first time, and I
think it’s great to kind of help
getting to know downtown,” she
said.
She had just come from Two96
Main, a fairly new pop-up market
she hadn’t known about before.
She said she would definitely be
back.
Although some individual
efforts are bearing fruit, Tuesday’s
meeting was a chance to talk about
a larger vision for downtown,
and about how to leverage all the
available resources to get there.
Sheri Stuart, Oregon Main
Street Coordinator, kicked off
the meeting with a presentation
of ideas other communities had
found success with. She said
while downtown businesses
may be small individually, as a
collective group they are a major
employer in town. The health of
downtown is also something that
large companies consider when
choosing a community to build in.
“If downtown isn’t clean and
healthy and attractive and offering
lots of services, they have other
places they can be,” she said.
Later, attendees broke into
groups to discuss ways to make
some of Stuart’s suggestions work
in Hermiston.
Umatilla County planning
director Tamra Mabbott facilitated
the restaurant and retail group,
which was the most popular
table of the night. She said they
discussed the need to create
“synergy” through features like
outdoor seating and sandwich
boards, and events like a Food Cart
Friday. They also came up with
a list specific businesses the city
should work to recruit downtown
that would draw more people.
“We really need an ice cream
shop,” she said.
In the “parking problems”
group,
members
discussed
erecting wayfinding signs to help
visitors easily find the parking lots
available for free public use. They
also discussed ways to encourage
employees to park in under-uti-
lized lots instead of taking up
prime spots directly in front of
other businesses.
While Hermiston’s downtown
hosts a few very large events each
year, the events group discussed
ways to use the city’s planned
festival street as an opportunity
for smaller, more regular events
like the farmer’s market to draw
people downtown.
Casi White of Simmons
Insurance Group said she would
bring her children downtown for
something like a splash fountain
or a children’s museum.
On the beautification side, group
members discussed a marketing
campaign for the city’s bench
and trash receptacle sponsorship
program, which could result in
more wrought-iron benches and
trash receptacles downtown. They
also identified 14 light poles that
could be used for hanging flower
baskets, and expressed a desire
to create a gathering place in the
large brick courtyard off Main
Street by adding a water feature,
benches and a Little Free Library.
The renovation and upkeep
group talked about pursuing
more effective façade grants and
creating a window decorating
contest.
Porricolo asked group members
to exchange contact information,
discuss who they could recruit
to their action group and set a
follow-up meeting. Community
members can contact Porricolo
at city hall if they want to get
involved.
“It seems like there are some
really great ideas to get things
going in downtown and that’s
exciting,” she said.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com
or 541-564-4536.