During his January confirmation hearing to become attorney general, Sessions was quizzed by Democrat Senator Al Franken about alleged contact between members of the Trump campaign and Russia. “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians,” Sessions – who was under oath – told him. Now evidence has emerged that Sessions in fact met twice with the Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak. A spokeswoman for Sessions said the meetings were in his capacity as a member of the armed forces committee and denied he had misled the Senate.