WASHINGTON: US Attorney General Jeff Sessions came under fire late on Wednesday after the Washington Post reported he met twice last year with Russia’s ambassador to Washington, seemingly contradicting statements he made in Senate confirmation hearings in January.
The revelation cast a fresh cloud over President Donald Trump’s administration — which has repeatedly denied any suspected ties between members of the Republican’s election campaign and Russia — which US intelligence says interfered in the 2016 election against Trump’s rival Hillary Clinton.
The White House quickly labeled the report an attack by partisan Democrats, confirming the meetings but arguing Sessions did nothing wrong.
In a statement Session said: “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.”
But with US intelligence agencies, the Department of Justice, and four Congressional committees examining the Russia scandal, Democrats demanded Sessions — the Trump administration’s top law enforcement official — recuse himself from investigations, and for Congress to name an independent special investigator to oversee a broad probe.
“Given AG Sessions’ false statements about contacts with Russian officials, we need a special counsel to investigate Trump associates’ ties to Russia,” said Democrat Senator Ron Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The Washington Post reported late Wednesday that Sessions — formerly a senator who advised Trump’s campaign on foreign policy and other issues — met Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in July and September, just as accusations of Russian interference in the election were mounting.
