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.”
#Sessions‘ statement on recusal from any current or future investigations into possible Trump campaign-Russia ties https://t.co/f4dK9V8qSy pic.twitter.com/nQSYDV6JMi
— CNN (@CNN) March 2, 2017
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 we need Attorney General Jeff Sessions – who should have never been confirmed in the first place – to resign. We need it now.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 2, 2017
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.
Recusal isn’t enough – we need a full investigation into whether Sessions committed perjury. Call your reps now: https://t.co/91N7MMJf3E
— ACLU National (@ACLU) March 2, 2017