It appears from the news accounts that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions may have given untruthful testimony under oath before the U.S. Senate. What are the ramifications ? Let’s look what could happen to Mr. Sessions under Tennessee law.
First, Mr. Sessions committed aggravated perjury under Tennessee’s criminal laws. Perjury is defined in Tennessee as a false statement under oath during or in connection with an official proceeding. It is a Class D felony. After it was discovered that Mr. Sessions made a false statement under oath, he tried to fix it. Retraction is a defense to perjury under Tennessee law. However, the retraction must be made before the completion of the testimony at the official proceeding.
Let’s turn to his law license next. To be an attorney general one must be licensed to practice law. Recently, I appeared at the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners on whether a law school application contained an omission. Here, Mr. Sessions made a false statement to the U.S. Senate under oath. Under Tennessee’s rules of professional conduct, Mr. Sessions appears to have violated the rule that a lawyer shall not offer evidence the lawyer knows to be false.
The country’s top lawyer has now been caught red handed being untruthful. Can the country tolerate this type of behavior ? I think not. This reminds me of the old TV show ” I Love Lucy” when Desi tells Lucy you got some explaining too do.