Sen. Jeff Sessions didn't directly answer questions at his nomination hearings about whether he would shut down the overall Russia investigation. | AP Photo Senate Dems want Sessions to recuse himself as AG on Russian hacking investigation

Senate Judiciary Democrats today asked attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions to pledge that he won't interfere in an investigation of Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election, and will recuse himself if he is confirmed to the post.

The Democrats wrote in a letter to the nominee that the commitments are made more necessary by recent unconfirmed reports that Russia has compromising information on President-elect Donald Trump, and that the Trump camp maintained communication with Moscow during the election season.


"At a minimum, these allegations must be fully investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department, especially in light of the recent assessment by the intelligence community that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered a campaign to influence the outcome of our presidential election in Donald Trump’s favor," the panel's Democrats wrote.

Sessions didn't directly answer questions at his nomination hearings about whether he would shut down the overall Russia investigation, or whether he would recuse himself from any investigation probing the Trump-Russia relationship.

He did, however, vow to recuse himself from any investigation focused on 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

