Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday obliged bipartisan calls to recuse himself from federal investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 election after reports he did not disclose meetings with the Russian ambassador.

Republican lawmakers praised Sessions’ move, but Democrats demanded the attorney general’s resignation and the appointment of an independent prosecutor.

While Democrats may risk overplaying their hand in calling for the firing of a nominee they didn’t support in the first place, Republicans remain wary of the way in which controversies involving the Trump campaign and Russia continue to hover over their congressional agenda.

The drama surrounding Sessions comes just as President Trump was enjoying a rare, controversy-free week in which he hoped to capitalize on the positive reviews of his first address to a joint session of Congress. Trump traveled to Virginia on Thursday and plans to visit Florida Friday to promote his agenda.

While touring a Navy warship and touting the U.S. military, Trump said he had “total” confidence in Sessions and said he didn’t think his attorney general should recuse himself from investigations involving Russia. The president also said he was not aware of any interaction between Sessions and the Russian envoy and believed the then-senator spoke truthfully in his testimony to the Senate.

Additionally, the White House acknowledged Thursday that now-fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and senior adviser Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, had also met in December with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

At issue is an exchange between Sessions and Senate Judiciary Committee member Al Franken, the senator from Minnesota, about contacts with Russians. Franken asked Sessions during his confirmation hearing about a new CNN report of the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russian officials.

“If there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do?” Franken asked Sessions.

The senator replied he was unaware of any of those activities and that he “did not have communications with the Russians.”

On Wednesday night, the Washington Post reported that Sessions had indeed twice met with Kislyak.

Sessions argues that his meetings with the Russian ambassador were related to his work as a senator and member of the Armed Services Committee and not related to the campaign. Sessions was a key adviser to the Trump campaign and an early supporter of the now-president.

Republican lawmakers rose to Sessions’ defense, even as many called for him to recuse himself from investigations, arguing that senators meet with foreign ambassadors frequently as part of their job. Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer agreed that there was nothing inappropriate about a member of Congress meeting with an ambassador, but that Sessions “dramatically misled Congress” in his testimony. Schumer also argued the Department of Justice should appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Russian meddling and alleged Trump ties, and that the inspector general should open a separate probe into Sessions’ behavior.

In a press conference on Thursday, Sessions said he committed no wrongdoing and that his reply to Franken “was honest and correct as I understood it at the time.” Sessions said he would write a letter to the Judiciary Committee explaining his testimony.

Sessions said he was “taken aback” by Franken’s introduction of the CNN report, which alleged “a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government.” Sessions said he was responding to the “continuing exchange of information” component, and therefore told the senator he was unaware of those activities.

Still, the explanation raised more questions, since Sessions said during his testimony that he did not have conversations with Russians. During the press conference Thursday, he acknowledged that he should have handled it differently.

“In retrospect, I should have slowed down and said, ‘But I did meet one Russian official a couple of times, and that would be the ambassador,’” he told reporters.

And amid bipartisan calls for him to explain what was talked about with the ambassador, Sessions said he could not “recall” the nature of the meetings, or whether he had encountered the ambassador at other times. He did say he remembered that the “subject of Ukraine came up” and that “it got to be a little bit of a testy conversation at that point.”

Sessions said he did not know what Kislyak may have had on his mind, but added: “I think ambassadors are always out trying to find out things and advance their agenda.”

There are also questions about the perimeters of Sessions’ recusal. The attorney general said he recused himself from matters that deal with the Trump campaign. “I have decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matter relating in any way to the campaigns for president of the United States.” It seems unclear, then, whether Sessions would remove himself from other investigations involving Russia.

Nevertheless, the move contented Republicans. “Although not legally mandated, this decision puts the issue behind him and ensures that the Department's law enforcement will be free from even the appearance of impropriety,” Sen. Ted Cruz said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Cruz told RCP there was no way Sessions perjured himself, even though he said his answer during the hearing “could have been more clear.”

Cruz and other Republicans said Democrats’ calls for his resignation were partisan and political theater. Only one Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, supported Sessions. (On Thursday, Manchin said that if Sessions lied under oath, he should resign.)

Democrats acknowledge they have never supported Sessions’ nomination.

“It’s no secret many of us didn’t want him in that position to begin with, so it’s maybe not terribly far to travel to ask him for his resignation,” Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy told RCP. But he argued that the role of attorney general requires the highest level of confidence, since it is designed to be a less political position.

“Lying or misleading Congress in your confirmation hearing is a big deal,” Murphy said. “It undermines the faith the American people have in the attorney general.”

Republicans have argued Democrats are overreacting, and some pointed to a critical tweet from Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, saying she had never met with the Russian envoy as a member of the Armed Services Committee, even though a previous tweet revealed she had promoted such a meeting.

“I think the point I was trying to make is incredibly valid in that as a member of the Armed Services Committee, it would be highly unusual in my opinion, based on my 10 years, for an ambassador to call a meeting,” she told reporters. “I can count on one hand how many meetings with ambassadors I’ve had in the entire time I’ve been in the Senate, and none of them in connection with my service on the Armed Services Committee."

While Republicans believe Democrats have lost their objectivity concerning anything related to Trump, there is concern within the conference about the continued news involving the president’s campaign and the Russians. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who had called for Sessions to recuse himself, said he wants the FBI to clarify whether it is investigating Trump.

“If there is an investigation at the FBI of Trump, Russia campaign activities, I want to know about it. I’m tired of reading about it in the paper,” Graham told reporters. “The FBI needs to let us know if there is or there isn’t. If there’s not one, they need to come forward and say so. If there is one we need to step aside and let it take its natural course.”

Republicans hope Sessions’ recusal will help Senate committees speed up their investigations into Russian meddling.

“America has a public trust crisis, and Putin's oligarchy of crooks and spooks is actively working to sabotage confidence in our institutions,” Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse said in a statement. “The American people deserve a comprehensive, top-to-bottom investigation of Putin's Soviet-style meddling in self-government at home and across the West."

Alexis Simendinger and James Arkin contributed to this report.