The controversy over reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions' previously met with Russian officials threatens to engulf further Justice Department posts. | Getty Republicans call on Sessions to recuse from Russia probe Democrats went further, accusing the attorney general of lying under oath and demanding he resign.

A growing number of Republicans on Thursday called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from investigations into President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia before Sessions announced at a 4 p.m. news conference that he would do so.

Meanwhile, an influential House Democrat accused FBI Director James Comey of withholding crucial information about its probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.


The firestorm on Capitol Hill erupted after news that Sessions met twice during the campaign with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, despite telling Congress during his January confirmation hearing that he “did not have communications with the Russians."

The latest development, first reported by The Washington Post, raised questions about whether GOP leaders would continue defending Trump amid a scandal over his administration’s many links to Russia that keeps getting murkier.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a close friend of the former Alabama senator who introduced him at his confirmation hearing, called on the attorney general to withdraw from the Russia investigation in order to "ensure public confidence." She added in a statement that Sessions "should also clarify his statements to the Judiciary Committee."

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) both called Thursday for Sessions to recuse himself, though McCarthy quickly backtracked.

“I think, the trust of the American people, you recuse yourself in these situations,” McCarthy said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Chaffetz added in a Tweet that Sessions “should clarify his testimony and recuse himself.”

McCarthy later walked back his remarks in an appearance on Fox News.

Republican Sen. Rob Portman also called for a recusal.

“Jeff Sessions is a former colleague and a friend, but I think it would be best for him and for the country to recuse himself from the DOJ Russia probe,” the Ohio senator said in a statement.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sessions should recuse himself only if federal investigators find “credible evidence of inappropriate campaign contact between the Trump campaign and the Russians” and prosecutors need to decide whether to move forward with the legal case. Graham, a member of the Judiciary Committee, added that he was meeting with FBI Director James Comey later Thursday afternoon to get more answers on any federal probe into the Russia matter.

“I’m tired of reading about this in the papers, being asked based on leaks in the newspaper. The FBI needs to inform the Congress,” Graham said. “I just want to know what’s going on. I don’t want to know the details of an investigation. If there’s not one, I want to know it. If there is one, I want to know it. And the rest of us need to stay out of it.”

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters after a briefing with Comey Thursday that lawmakers know “less than a fraction of what the FBI knows.”

“In order for us to do our investigation in a thorough and credible way, we're gonna need the FBI to fully cooperate, to be willing to tell us the length and breadth of any counterintelligence investigations they are conducting,” Schiff said. “At this point, the director was not willing to do that.”

Democratic leaders, meanwhile, are calling for Sessions’ resignation and accusing him of lying under oath to Congress.

At a news conference Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan did not join the chorus calling for Sessions to recuse himself, but said if the attorney general "himself is the subject of an investigation, of course he would.” Ryan also said he's seen no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russian officials during the campaign.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declined Thursday to comment on the issue, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who chairs the Judiciary Committee that held the confirmation hearing where Sessions said he had no contacts with Russia, has yet to weigh in.

Sessions under fire over Russia meetings

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other senior Democrats are calling for Sessions to resign.

“For the good of the country, Attorney General Sessions should resign,” Schumer said at a news conference Thursday. He also demanded that Sessions’ recusal from law enforcement investigations into possible contacts between members of the Trump campaign and Russia, calling for the acting deputy attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor.

“Sessions cannot possibly lead an investigation into Russian interference in our elections or come anywhere near it,” Schumer said. “With these revelations, he may very well become a subject of it.”

Even after Sessions announced he would recuse himself, Schiff said he had come to "the reluctant conclusion" that Sessions should step down. Schiff also called for an independent prosecutor to take the reins of the investigation.

Among the Senate Democrats calling for Sessions’ resignation are Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. Blumenthal sits on the Judiciary Committee, which questioned Sessions for 11 hours during his confirmation hearing in January.

"Unless he can provide a credible explanation, he should resign,” Blumenthal said in an interview Thursday morning. “I believe that the Judiciary Committee perhaps should call him back to provide an explanation, give him an opportunity to clarify, eliminate whatever lack of clarity or even perjury there may be.”

The Sessions controversy is also likely to engulf the confirmation fight over other senior Justice Department posts. In an interview Thursday morning, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the second-ranking Senate Democrat, noted that the Judiciary Committee is considering Rod Rosenstein to be deputy attorney general and Rachel Brand as associate attorney general.

Their confirmation hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

“You can bet this is going to be Topic A in terms of the role of the Department of Justice,” Durbin said. Another Democratic member of the committee, Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, said that confirmation hearing for the DOJ deputies should be delayed until senators get more information about the Sessions controversy, adding that "at this point, I feel as though the entire department has been compromised."

Durbin, who like most other Democrats have repeatedly called for an independent counsel to oversee the federal probe into Russian contacts with Trump’s team, said he wasn’t prepared yet to call for Sessions’ resignation. But he added, “if there is any hint of his knowledge or involvement of this Russian activity, end of story.”

“Remember he’s a former prosecutor, member of the Senate for 20 years. He’s been pretty tough himself on witnesses, asking lengthy lists of questions, so I expected that he [came to his confirmation hearing] with that understanding,” Durbin said in the interview with POLITICO.

Meanwhile, some Republican lawmakers were signaling they planned to stick by Sessions, defending his contacts with the Russian ambassador as routine meetings that are to be expected of a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"I don't think it's a big deal. We meet with dignitaries all the time. I met with the Russians three weeks ago so I think it's all being blown out of proportion," said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said in a statement that “it would have been very normal for Sessions, as a senator, to have talked to the Russian ambassador without discussing the election.” Blunt reiterated his support for the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election — a probe many Democrats and a few Republicans have said should be handled by a more independent select committee or outside commission.

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence panel, Richard Burr (R-N.C.), said Thursday whether or not Sessions recuses himself is “a decision that he needs to make.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who last week called for a special prosecutor to investigation Russia’s election interference, said in a statement Thurssday “that we need an independent review by a credible third party and that Attorney General Sessions should recuse himself from any investigation into Russia.”

“The Putin government,” Issa added, “is a bad actor whose actions should be carefully scrutinized — and regardless of what side of the aisle you sit on — we have a vested interest in fully understanding exactly what happened and how to prevent it from happening again."

Elana Schor, Kyle Cheney and Rachael Bade contributed to this report.