Jeff Sessions Recuses Himself From Inquiry Into Trump Ties to Russia

By Kenrya Rankin Mar 02, 2017

Just hours after The Washington Post reported that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions allegedly had contact with Russian ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak ahead of the presidential election, Sessions has recused himself from the investigation into that nation’s electoral interference.

His full statement appears below, via a CNN tweet. In it, he says “I have decided to recuse myself form any existing or future investigation of any matter related in any way to the campaigns for president of the United States.”

 

But the move is not enough for some Senate Democrats, who are calling for his resignation. Elizabeth Warren—who was sanctioned for reading Coretta Scott King’s 1986 letter that laid out Session’s racist actions during his tenure as an attorney general—is clear on her position:

 

And 100 House Dems are pushing him to resign, per a statement released today (March 2) by Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi:

The top law enforcement officer of the United States cannot be a person who lies under oath to the American people. Attorney General Sessions’ impartiality was already suspect, now we know he does not have the integrity to lead the Department of Justice.

Attorney General Sessions must resign immediately. Our security and our democracy have been undermined by Russia’s meddling, and this Administration clearly cannot be trusted to investigate itself.  There must be an independent, bipartisan, outside commission to investigate the full extent of the Trump political, personal and financial connections to the Russians.

Meanwhile, the ACLU is calling for an investigation into Sessions.