Sen. Tom Cotton uses James Bond, Jason Bourne movies to ridicule Democrats' questioning of Sessions

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) took a minute at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Tuesday to grill Attorney General Jeff Sessions about his taste in "spy fiction." Sessions easily admitted he enjoyed a good spy novel, rattling off some of his favorite authors, but he was more hesitant to reveal his thoughts on spy movies.
"Do you like Jason Bourne or James Bond movies?" Cotton asked. "No ... yes, I do," Sessions said, to laughter.
All of this was to prove Cotton's point: that Democrats' questions about whether Sessions met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak at the Mayflower Hotel last April were absurd. "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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sessions, who was earlier unable to "recall" if he'd had this third hotel meeting with Kislyak, thanked Cotton for making this point. "It's just like Through the Looking-Glass," Sessions said, referring to the Lewis Carrol novel about an imaginary world where everything is flipped around. "I mean, what is this?"
Watch — and learn which spy novel Sessions just finished reading — below. Becca Stanek
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
August 31 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include FEMA's new scheme, Gavin Newsom's antics, and a clue in the Epstein files
-
Disarming Hezbollah: Lebanon's risky mission
Talking Point Iran-backed militia has brought 'nothing but war, division and misery', but rooting them out for good is a daunting and dangerous task
-
Woof! Britain's love affair with dogs
The Explainer The UK's canine population is booming. What does that mean for man's best friend?
-
RFK Jr. names new CDC head as staff revolt
Speed Read Kennedy installed his deputy, Jim O'Neill, as acting CDC director
-
DC prosecutors lose bid to indict sandwich thrower
Speed Read Prosecutors sought to charge Sean Dunn with assaulting a federal officer
-
White House fires new CDC head amid agency exodus
Speed Read CDC Director Susan Monarez was ousted after butting heads with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccines
-
DOGE put Social Security data at risk, official says
Speed Read DOGE workers made the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans vulnerable to identity theft
-
Court rejects Trump suit against Maryland US judges
Speed Read Judge Thomas Cullen, a Trump appointee, said the executive branch had no authority to sue the judges
-
Trump expands National Guard role in policing
Speed Read The president wants the Guard to take on a larger role in domestic law enforcement
-
Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Speed Read The move is likely part of Trump's push to get the central bank to cut interest rates
-
Abrego released from jail, faces Uganda deportation
Speed Read The wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego García is expected to be detained at an ICE check-in and deported to Uganda