The only Senate Democrat who voted to confirm Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsTrump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez call for convention to decide Puerto Rico status White House officials voted by show of hands on 2018 family separations: report MORE for attorney general says Sessions should resign if he misled Congress about his meetings with a Russian ambassador last year.

Sen. Joe Manchin Joseph (Joe) ManchinOVERNIGHT ENERGY: House Democrats tee up vote on climate-focused energy bill next week | EPA reappoints controversial leader to air quality advisory committee | Coronavirus creates delay in Pentagon research for alternative to 'forever chemicals' Senate Democrats demand White House fire controversial head of public lands agency House Democrats tee up vote on climate-focused energy bill next week MORE (D-W.Va.) made the comments to The Daily Beast as Democrats step up their calls for Sessions to resign, or at least recuse himself from any investigations related to the Trump campaign and Russia.

Sen. Manchin just now: if Sessions lied about contacts with Russian ambassador he should resign — Tim Mak (@timkmak) March 2, 2017

Manchin also said a recusal won't be enough to satisfy him if Sessions is found to have misled the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing in January.

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The language is stronger than Manchin's comments on CNN earlier Thursday, when he said that he and other senators have met with the Russian ambassador and other diplomats as part of their work. Still, Manchin said he would always be upfront about those conversations if asked.

"In my official capacity as a member of the Armed Services [Committee], wanting to understand the people we have and the people we do business with in a country that I think is the most dangerous country to the United States of America, Russia, you better see if you can some discourse to talk about," he said.

"Somehow, you have to have some kind of communications."

Manchin has drawn ire from progressives for his decision to vote for Sessions, even before the latest revelations. Some progressive groups are signaling support for a primary challenge from Manchin's left in 2018 as retribution for what they see as acquiescence to the Trump administration.

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Sessions's conversations were first revealed in a Washington Post story on Wednesday evening. The story said he spoke to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak on two occasions during the campaign despite his testimony under oath during his confirmation hearing that he "did not have communications with the Russians."

The attorney general in a statement said claims he discussed the election with the ambassador are untrue.

"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," Sessions said in a statement.

The FBI has reportedly been investigating contact between officials in the Trump campaign and the Russian government.