During his Senate confirmation hearing, Sessions told Al Franken, the Minnesota Democrat, "I didn't have communications with the Russians".
"Umar Farouk is one of my students; I had communications with him," Mr. Awlaki can be heard saying on the recording.
He added, "I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and I did not have communications with the Russians".
The meaning of that statement — "I did not have communications with the Russians" — is now in dispute, and Sessions's evolving defenses have only made matters worse.
When the controller questioned the Met supervisor about his decision, the supervisor said it was because he did not have communications with the officers.
The two people said that the agents looking into Rodriguez have had communications with Angel Presinal, a well-known trainer who was banned from major league clubhouses nearly a decade ago because baseball officials suspected he was providing players with performance-enhancing drugs.
Furthermore, most, if not all, of the bidders have had communications with Richard Edelman, a stakeholder in the Empire State Building who has led a group of dissidents opposed to the planned REIT.
Mr. Awlaki said he had "communications" with the Nigerian suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, in Yemen last fall, according to the journalist, Abdulelah Hider Sha'ea, who played a digital recording of the cleric's comments for this reporter.
He was in the room when Sessions said, "I did not have communications with the Russians".
During Sessions' confirmation hearing, he stated he "did not have communications with the Russians".
He said quite clearly, "I... did not have communications with the Russians".
