Trump condemns Democrats for 'total witch hunt'

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Donald Trump on Thursday lashed out at Democrats over their demands for US Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign, calling their actions a ''total witch hunt.''

Sessions on Thursday announced he would recuse himself from any probe into the presidential election campaign as the White House moved to forestall a snowballing controversy over its ties to Russia.

Following newly revealed meetings he held with Russia's ambassador before the election, Sessions denied any impropriety or that he lied about those encounters in his Senate confirmation hearing.

The Republican US president declared his ''total'' confidence in Sessions -- while adding that he ''wasn't aware'' of contacts between Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Sessions, who was a senator actively supporting Trump's campaign at the time.

He defended Sessions again in a statement late on Wednesday, calling Sessions an ''honest man'' and accusing Democrats of having ''lost their grip on reality'' and carrying out ''a total witch hunt!''

Sessions ''did not say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not intentional.''

Unswayed by Sessions's account of events, top Democrats are maintaining their calls for him to step down immediately, accusing him of perjury.

They also called for an independent prosecutor to investigate contacts between the Trump campaign and Moscow, which US intelligence says interfered in the election to hurt Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.