Attorney General Jeff Sessions denied on Thursday that he discussed the campaign with the Russian ambassador during the presidential election as calls amplified for him to recuse himself into any investigation looking into Trump staffers’ ties to the Kremlin.

“I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. Those remarks are unbelievable to me and are false. And I don’t have anything else to say about that,” Sessions told NBC as he left his Washington, DC, home on Thursday morning.

Sessions’ comments follow a report in the Washington Post that revealed the then-senator from Alabama talked twice with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 presidential campaign – meetings he did not disclose during his Senate confirmation hearing in January.

Democrats began the drumbeat for Sessions to resign while some GOP lawmakers said he should at least remove himself from any investigations into the link between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Sessions had “weeks” to correct the record of what he told the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing in January but did not.

“Because the Department of Justice should be above reproach, for the good of the country, Attorney General Sessions should resign,” Schumer said.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said Session should “clarify” his statements and recuse himself from any investigations into Russian interference in the election.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy initially called for Sessions to recuse himself, saying on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” “it would be easier” for investigations to go forward.

But just an hour later, he walked back his suggestion during an interview on “Fox and Friends,” claiming his comments had been spun.

“I’m not calling on him to recuse himself. I was asked on ‘Morning Joe’ if he needs to recuse himself going forward, and, as you just heard, Attorney General Sessions said he would recuse himself going forward [if] appropriate, and that’s all my answer was,” McCarthy said. “It’s amazing how this story comes out right after a great speech by this president and the timing.”

Hours earlier, Sessions said he would remove himself if it’s “appropriate.”

“Well, I’ve said that whenever it’s appropriate, I will recuse myself. There’s no doubt about that,” he said in response to a question about whether he’d steer clear of a Justice Department probe into Russia’s interference.

During Sessions’ confirmation hearing in January at the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Al Franken about him what he would do if anyone connected to the Trump campaign had talks with the Russian government.

Sessions replied: “I’m not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.”

After the story broke on Wednesday evening, a spokeswoman for Sessions confirmed he had a conversation with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, but said he did not discuss campaign matters.

Sarah Isgur Flores said Sessions did not mislead the senators because he had been asked about “Russia and the Trump campaign” and not meetings he had as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Last month, Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned after he misled White House officials and Vice President Pence about his contacts with Kislyak.

The White House came to his defense on Thursday morning, saying there’s no reason for him to do so.

“He was 100 percent straight with the committee and I think that people [who] are choosing to play partisan politics with this should be ashamed of themselves,” said White House spokesman Sean Spicer.

But top Democrats said it’s time for Sessions to go.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said the attorney general should recuse or resign.

“I think he probably should resign,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Thursday. “He’s lost his independence as the top prosecutor in the country.”

“Sessions is not fit to serve as the top law enforcement officer of our country and must resign,” Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, said in a statement.