Image by Getty Images

By Aiden Pink June 14, 2017

Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ testimony on Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee was highly contentious, as the Justice Department chief refused to answer numerous questions about conversations with President Trump and frequently stated that he did not recall alleged meetings with Russian officials.

But he did explain that he went to see a Trump speech at Washington, D.C.’s Mayflower Hotel, where Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak was present, because the only other time that he had heard Trump speak was “at the Jewish AIPAC event.”

Sessions was referring to Trump’s speech at the Verizon Center during the 2016 AIPAC Policy Conference. Some 18,000 people filled the arena, a great many of whom were Jewish. In fact, there were likely more Jews at Trump’s speech than the number that live in Alabama, which Sessions represented in the Senate for 20 years.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

AIPAC defines itself as a pro-Israel organization, not an explicitly Jewish one. It also has a significant Christian support base.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter @aidenpink.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount