Attorney General Jeff Sessions has agreed to recuse himself from an investigation over Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.
His previous contact with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak has come under fire amid reports of Russian hacking in an attempt to discredit Hillary Clinton’s campaign. He rejected suggestions that he lied under oath and mislead Congress about meeting with Mr Kislyak.
‘‘That is not my intent,” he said in a news conference on Thursday. “That is not correct.’’
“My staff recommended recusal. They said that since I had involvement with the campaign, I should not be involved in any campaign investigation,” he continued.
Mr Sessions did say however that he should have been more careful in his confirmation hearing. ‘‘I should have slowed down and said, ‘But I did meet one Russian official a couple of times.'’’
More than 100 Democratic leaders have called on Mr Sessions to resign from his post while Republicans have urged him to step aside from the investigations.
"I have recused myself in the matters that deal with the Trump campaign," he announced in the conference.
Earlier in the day, President Trump stood by Mr Sessions and insisted that he has total confidence in his attorney general. He also said that he shouldn’t need to remove himself from the Russia investigations.. "I don't think so at all," the President told reporters. "I don't think he should do that at all."
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that at least 100 House Democrats have called for Mr Sessions’ resignation to resign, accusing him of lying under oath about his conversations with Russia.
“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,” she said in a written statement.
“Attorney General Sessions must resign immediately,” she continued. “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.”
