Sessions faces calls to resign over Russian envoy meets
the campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.”
But with US intelligence agencies, the Justice Department – led by Sessions himself – and four Congressional committees examining the Russia scandal, Democrats demanded that Sessions recuse himself from the investigations and for Congress to name an independent special investigator to oversee a broad probe.
“Given AG Sessions’s false statements about contacts with Russian officials, we need a special counsel to investigate Trump associates’ ties to Russia,” said Democratic Senator RonWyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The Washington Post reported late onWednesday that Sessions – formerly a senator who advised Trump’s campaign on foreign policy and other issues – met Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in July and September, just as accusations of Russian interference in the election were mounting.
Sessions, however, told his confirmation hearing at the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 10 that he did not know of contacts between Trump campaign members and Russia.
“I did not have communications with the Russians,” he said under oath.
Calls to resign
Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, called for Sessions to step down. “After lying under oath to Congress about his own communications with the Russian, the attorney-general must resign,” she said.
Democrat Elijah Cummings of the House Oversight Committee echoed that call. “When senator Sessions testified under oath that ‘I did not have communications with the Russians,’ his statement was demonstrably false, yet he let it stand for weeks,” Cummings said.
“Attorney-General Sessions should resign immediately, and there is no longer any question that we need a truly independent commission to investigate this issue.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also called on Sessions to resign over his failure to disclose that he met with Russia’s ambassador, saying: “The Department of Justice should be above reproach. For the good of the country, Attorney-General Sessions should resign.”
AWhite House official dubbed the latest report an “attack”.
“This is the latest attack against the Trump administration by partisan Democrats,” the official said. “Sessions met with the ambassador in an official capacity as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is entirely consistent with his testimony.”
Sessions was confirmed as attorney-general on February 8, and sworn in a day later, moving in place to oversee Justice Department and FBI probes into the alleged communications between Trump campaign officials and Moscow.
The New York Times reported two weeks ago, citing US intelligence sources, that three campaign staff – including campaign chief Paul Manafort – had communicated with Russian intelligence officers.
TheWhite House also labelled that report “false” and has accused Democrats, the media and the intelligence community of a political effort to undermine the Trump administration.
The Post’s report emerged as Democrats had begun warning theWhite House and Republican lawmakers against trying to shut down any investigations of alleged Russian interference.
The warnings came after Trump’s staff sought to enlist the FBI, reportedly the CIA and two Republicans who head committees leading the Russia investigations, to knock down media reports on the alleged links.
US i nt e l l i g e nce c hi e f s announced in December that they had concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind a hacking and misinformation campaign to hurt Clinton and boost Trump’s chances to win the November 8 presidential election.