Several Democratic lawmakers called for Attorney General Jeff Sessions' resignation Wednesday night following reports that he met with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. on two occasions, despite denying during his confirmation hearing that he had made contact with Russian officials
For his part, Sessions said in a statement Wednesday night that "I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false."
Some Democratic lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have called for Sessions to resign, while others for saying that he should at least recuse himself from overseeing any investigation as Attorney General into the question of alleged ties between Trump officials and Russians during and after the 2016 election.
"Jeff Sessions lied under oath during his confirmation hearing before the Senate," said Pelosi. "Under penalty of perjury, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee, 'I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.’ We now know that statement is false."
Sessions twice met with Russian ambassador in 2016 despite denial
Pelosi's colleagues Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) have also called for resignation, as has Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts).
"It is inconceivable that even after Michael Flynn was fired for concealing his conversations with the Russians that Attorney General Sessions would keep his own conversations secret for several more weeks," said Cummings, who is the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "Attorney General Sessions should resign immediately."
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) said on Twitter that the attorney general should resign "if it turns out Sessions lied under oath."
Many other lawmakers have stopped short of calling for resignation, but argued that the attorney general should recuse himself from leading Justice Department investigations over the alleged links between Russian officials and Trump officials, as well as Russia's purported involvement in influencing the 2016 election.
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota) said in a statement that "the attorney general cannot, in good faith, oversee an investigation at the Department of Justice and the FBI of the Trump-Russia connection, and he must recuse himself immediately.”
Likewise, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) tweeted that Sessions "should recuse himself from investigations into Russia."
Mike Quigley (D-Illinois) echoed that call, tweeting that if reports were true, then Sessions "must immediately remove himself from #Russia investigation."
Top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-New York), also called for Sessions to recuse himself and said that President Trump should appoint a special prosecutor to investigate alleged Russian interference into the election.
Republican reactions have for the most part been muted. Both Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), who have at time been critical of the Trump administration, said during a joint CNN interview Wednesday night that it was too early to make a judgement about Sessions based on news articles. But Graham did say if the FBI found something it "believes is criminal in nature" then "for sure, you need a special prosecutor."
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