President Donald Trump was asked if he knew Jeff Sessions had met Russia's ambassador before the election - and said: 'I wasn't aware at all.'

The president's extraordinary intervention came as Sessions faced a firestorm over whether he lied to the Senate during confirmation hearings by failing to disclose his two meetings last summer with Vladimir Putin's man in Washington.

But the president also said he has 'total' confidence in his attorney general and does not think he should recuse himself from Justice Department investigations involving Russia.

'I don't think so,' he told reporters asking about recusal on Thursday, as he visited the USS Gerard R. Ford in Newport News, Virginia.

Despite saying he did not know of the meetings with Sergey Kislyak, he stood by his DOJ chief as Session took fire from Democrats for failing to disclose the conversations during his confirmation hearing.

Asked if Sessions told a Senate panel the truth about the communications, Trump gave only a half-hearted endorsement, however.

'I think he probably did,' Trump said.

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President Donald Trump says he has 'total' confidence in his attorney general and does not think he should recuse himself from Justice Department investigations involving Russia - but offered a lukewarm endorsement of his truthfulness

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday morning that while he twice met with Russia's ambassador during the presidential campaign season, he was speaking with him in his capacity as a senator, not as a campaign adviser to Donald Trump

He gave into Democratic and Republican demands on Thursday afternoon and announced that he was recusing himself from 'any matter relating in any way to the campaigns for president of the United States'

Then-senator Sessions had a private conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak (pictured above) last September in his office - but did not disclose it. That did not stop the Russian from being at the Joint Session of Congress addressed earlier this week by the president

WHAT SESSIONS SAID WHICH STARTED LIES ROW - AND COULD COST HIM HIS JOB During Jeff Session's Attorney General confirmation hearing on January 10 he was question about the Trump campaign's relations with Moscow. Sen. Al Franken: 'If there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign, communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what would you do? Jeff Sessions: 'Sen. Franken, 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.' Advertisement

Democratic lawmakers are demanding Sessions' head over the revelation that he met with Russia's ambassador to the United States twice last year and did not bother to mention it during his confirmation hearing.

Sessions met them partway on Thursday afternoon and announced that he was recusing himself from 'any matter relating in any way to the campaigns for president of the United States.'

'I feel like I should not be involved in investigating a campaign I had a role in,' he said.

Sessions said that a meeting had previously been set for today to discuss the the matter. At it, his staff recommended that he recuse himself, and he concurred.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer repeatedly deferred to Sessions as he spoke to reporters on Air Force One a half hour before the attorney general's press conference, saying numerous times that he'd let the former senator speak for himself.

He did defend Sessions' interactions with Kislyak on the whole, though.

'He was literally conducting himself as United States senator,' Spicer said. 'This is what senators do.'

House Speaker Paul Ryan had earlier said that he sees no 'purpose or reason' for Sessions to back away from an investigation unless he himself is the target of the probe.

Ryan said at his weekly press conference that he meets with ambassadors 'all the time' and there is nothing unusual about the former Alabama senator's conduct.

The Republican leader wouldn't involve himself in charges of perjury coming from Democrats.

But he said broadly, as he responded to a New York Times report about Barack Obama aides spreading information in their final days about the Trump campaign's contacts with the Russians prior to the election, 'never have we ever seen any evidence' that an American or person on the Trump campaign was working with the Russians on election meddling.

'I think Democrats are lighting their hair on fire to get you to cover this story,' he told a reporter. 'There's nothing new we haven't seen here. This is stuff we've been going over.'

House Speaker Paul Ryan said late Thursday morning at his weekly press conference that he did not see any 'purpose or reason' for Sessions to take himself off an investigation - unless he himself was the subject of the probe

A separate report Wednesday night put Sessions in hot water for failing to mention his conversations with Kislyak, the Russian ambassador, at his confirmation hearing.

That amounts to 'perjury,' House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic legislators have said.

Prior to learning about the Kislyak contact Democrats had called on Sessions, a Trump backer in the election, to recuse himself from any Justice Department investigations into the Oval Office occupant's links to Russia.

GOP legislators doggedly refused join them.

This morning Republicans changed their position - as did the attorney general later - but Sessions was already taking on water. Democrats had moved on and were calling for his resignation.

'We are far past recusal. Jeff #Sessions lied under oath. Anything less than resignation or removal from office is unacceptable,' Pelosi said on Twitter this morning.

RESIGN NOW: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday at a news conference that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had to go

Scores of Democratic lawmakers have called for Sessions to resign in the wake of claims that he perjured himself at a his confirmation hearing, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (left) and the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (right)

Sessions (shown at his confirmation hearing) failed to disclose two conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States in answers to Sen. Al Franken, a liberal Minnesota Democrat at his hearing

SESSIONS CRISIS WAS A YEAR IN THE MAKING March 3, 2016: Trump names Sessions as chairman of his 'national security advisory committee'. July: Sessions gives a speech to the Heritage Foundation at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. On the sidelines, he speaks to ambassadors including Sergey Kislyak. September 8: Sessions hosts Kislyak in his office in the Capitol. November 18: The Alabama senator is announced as the nominee for attorney general. January 10 2017: Al Franken, the Minnesota Democratic senator, asks Sessions at a confirmation hearing about claims of Russian links to the Trump campaign. He answers: 'I didn't have, did not have communications with the Russians.' The questioning is under oath. February 9: Sessions is formally sworn in as attorney general after a vote along party lines to approve him. February 13: Trump tells his National Security Advisor Mike Flynn to resign over lying to Mike Pence about having phone conversations with Kislyak after the election. February 15: Reports surface in the New York Times that a number of Trump associates had repeated contact with Russian intelligence officials before the election. March 1: The Washington Post reveals that Sessions met with Russia's ambassador twice in 2016, contradicting what he told the Senate. The White House calls it an 'attack against the Trump administration'. Sessions' spokeswoman says the meeting was unrelated to his campaign activities. Democratic March 2, 8am: Sessions tells NBC News: 'I have not met with any Russians at any time to discuss any political campaign and those remarks are unbelievable to me and false and I don't have anything else to say about that.' 10am: Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer becomes the most senior Democrat to publicly demand that Sessions resign. 11am: House Speaker Paul Ryan says Sessions should recuse himself from any Russian investigation. 3pm: President Trump speaks to reporters on the USS Gerald R. Ford and says he 'was not aware' of the meetings. 4pm: Under pressure, Sessions holds a press conference at the Department of Justice to announce he is recusing himself from making any decisions about investigations into Russian meddling in the election. Advertisement

Scores of Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, followed in her footsteps.

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

Sessions met with Russia's ambassador twice last year during Donald Trump's campaign run but claimed during his Senate confirmation hearing that he 'did not have communications with the Russians' in his capacity as an adviser to then-candidate Trump.

Despite being asked by Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken about contacts between Trump's campaign and Russian officials, Sessions declined at the time to disclose his private conversations with Kislyak during the Republican National Convention in July and subsequently in his Senate office in September, The Washington Post reported.

In Cleveland, at the RNC, Sessions encountered Kislyak at an event for ambassadors that was sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington. Sessions was a speaker.

Kislyak approached the U.S. senator after his remarks, the Justice Department says. The Russian ambassador and other diplomats invited Sessions to attend their events; he did not commit.

Sessions said Thursday at a news conference that the second meeting came at the request of the Russian ambassador's office.

'We met with him, two of my senior staffers were there, and maybe a younger staffer too, and they [were] both retired army colonels and not politicians, and we had a...we listened to the ambassador and what his concerns might be,' Sessions said.

In addition to sanctions the United States slapped on Russia for its incursion in Ukraine, Sessions says he an Kislyak talked about a missions trip the senator made to Russia in 1991 and terrorism.

The talks came at the height of what U.S. intelligence officials say was a Russian cyber campaign to influence the presidential race.

Sessions says he doesn't remember the contest coming up.

'I don't recall. But most of these ambassadors are pretty gossipy...and this was in the campaign season, but I don't recall any specific political discussions.'

The White House aggressively defended Sessions on Thursday morning, saying in a statement to media outlets that '[t]his is the latest attack against the Trump Administration by partisan Democrats. General Sessions met with the ambassador in an official capacity as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is entirely consistent with his testimony.'

'lt's no surprise Senator Al Franken is pushing this story immediately following President Trump's successful [Tuesday] address to the nation.'

Franken said Thursday on CNN that Sessions' comments during his confirmation hearing were 'extremely misleading.'

'He should have said, "I met with Russia's ambassador a couple times but we didn't discuss the campaign."'

Sessions had released a statement late Wednesday saying he had 'never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the [Trump] campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.'

He maintained his innocence in an NBC interview Thursday morning, but he met Democrats' demands and offered to recuse himself from investigations pertaining to Russia as he hustled to save his job.

Sessions asserted to NBC News, I have not met with any Russians at any time to discuss any political campaign, and those remarks are unbelievable to me and false, and I don't have anything else to say about that.'

DEMOCRAT SENATOR GOING AFTER SESSIONS WASN'T TRUTHFUL EITHER Missouri Democratic senator Claire McCaskill lead the charge against Sessions - saying she had never met the Russian ambassador. But that position was contradicted by her own Twitter account. It showed that she had met him once and called him once. Surprisingly, McCaskill brazened out the apparent hypocrisy. She told USA Today the meeting was with around a dozen other senators. And she said: 'The Russian ambassador has never called me. 'The Russian ambassador has never requested a meeting. I have never met with the Russian ambassador one-on-one.' Advertisement

Asked if he would step aside from Justice Department investigations into Russia's election-year computer hacking and other political meddling, Sessions said: 'Well, I've said that whenever it's appropriate I will recuse myself, no doubt about that.'

House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz urged him to do just that. So did House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Justin Amash and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman.

Ryan said Thursday that Sessions should withdraw from an investigation if it directly involved him, and had indicated that he would.

'Honestly, we meet with ambassadors all the time. I did a reception about a hundred yards that way with like a hundred ambassadors last year. I don't even remember which, all the ones I met with and took pictures with,' he said as he defended Sessions.

'It's really common for Members of Congress to meet with ambassadors....As to the rest of it, I would just defer you to Jeff sessions and the Senate Judiciary Committee.'

The GOP leader further rejected Democrats' calls for a special prosecutor to be appointed.

'You have to protect the sources and methods of our intelligence gathering capabilities, especially with adversaries like Russia,' he said. 'And that is why the committee of jurisdiction, which is supposed to protect those methodologies, should be the intelligence committee.'

Democratic lawmakers now say it's not good enough.

Pelosi and others, namely Senators Schumer, Elizabeth Warren and Dianne Feinstein, have called for Sessions to resign in the wake of the claims that came several weeks after former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was fired, in part, for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his own contacts with Kislyak.

Democratic lawmakers now say recusal it's not good enough - Sessions needs to step down

The Russian ambassador is widely considered to be one of Russia's top spies and spy-recruiters in Washington by US intelligence officials.

Richard Painter, who served as the White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, tweeted late Wednesday night that '[m]isleading the Senate in sworn testimony about one own contacts with the Russians is a good way to go to jail.'

'Perjury is a felony and may be punishable by prison for up to five years,' Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, the deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, ominously tweeted.

The latest claims about the attorney general will raise further questions about Washington's relationship with Moscow.

Federal investigators have been looking into possible contacts between Trump advisers and Russia for months, along with clues pointing to Russia's role in political hacking during the campaign.

Even some Republicans such as House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz said Thursday, before Sessions' announcement that he should recuse himself

The House and Senate intelligence committees have pledged to conduct a bipartisan probe into Trump and his administration's ties to Russia, as well as claims that Moscow could have influenced the election.

Some Democrats have requested a special prosecutor, although Ryan has argued against it, saying the investigation should be carried out by congressional committees.

'AG #Sessions should resign. This is exactly why we need an independent special counsel to investigate #TrumpRussia,' Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey said this morning.

Schumer said at a press conference and on Twitter, 'DOJ must appoint a special prosecutor who is beyond reproach, completely impartial, w/out any significant ties to either political party.'

Sessions himself, who worked on Trump's presidential campaign, said earlier this week he would 'recuse myself from anything that I should recuse myself on.'

House Majority Leader McCarthy, a powerful California lawmaker, said Thursday morning that Sessions should follow through.

'I think it would be easier from this standpoint, yes,' McCarthy said on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' after he was asked if Sessions should recuse himself from any inquiry related to his contact with Russian officials during the campaign.

Chaffetz, the House Oversight head, agree with him on Twitter. 'AG Sessions should clarify his testimony and recuse himself,' he said.

At a protest in front of the Department of Justice on Thursday afternoon that was organized by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, MoveOn and other activist groups, Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin mocked Republicans like Chaffetz who were changing their tune - and the Trump White House.

'The Trump administration has a staff infection,' he said. 'Every day we learn about another high-ranking Trump official who has been entangled with the highest levels of the Russian government, and Vladimir Putin, the former chief of the KGB.'

As demonstrators erupted into the chant 'he lied under oath' Raskin told them, 'You know how we know that he lied under oath? Because today the Republicans are saying he should recuse himself. And yesterday they were saying he shouldn't recuse himself.

'They say recuse, we resign,' he said, kicking off a new mantra.

The dozens of progressive activists who had planted themselves outside DOJ also chanted 'Sessions must go' as they held up signs that said '#RESIST' and 'SESSIONS: RESIGN' while lawmakers spoke.

Even though Sessions has said he will recuse himself, the latest revelations may persuade Republicans that a special prosecutor is needed to conduct an independent inquest.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday night during a CNN town hall broadcast that 'if there is something there, and it goes up the chain of investigation, it is clear to me that Jeff Sessions, who is my dear friend, cannot make this decision about Trump.'

'So they may be not – there may be nothing there, but if there's something there if the FBI believes is criminal in nature, then, for sure, you need a special prosecutor. If that day ever comes, I’ll be the first one to say it needs to be somebody other than Jeff.'

A spokeswoman for Sessions claimed the ex-senator's contact with Kislyak was not unusual because he sat on the Senate's Armed Services Committee at the time. Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill pushed back on Twitter - he claim was later found to be false

The Post reported that Sessions first spoke with Kislyak in July while acting as one of Trump's top foreign policy advisers. They then met again in September in Session's office in his role as a member of the armed services panel.

But when asked by Franken at his January 10 Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing what he would do if he learned that anyone with ties to the Trump campaign had communicated with the Russian government in the past year, he denied any having any communications with Moscow.

'I'm not aware of any of those activities,' he responded. Then he said with no prodding, 'I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and I did not have communications with the Russians.'

Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy later pushed Sessions in a written question about his communications with Russian officials.

'Several of the President-elect's nominees or senior advisers have Russian ties. Have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after election day?' Leahy wrote.

Sessions responded with a single written answer: 'No.'

On Thursday morning Leahy issued a blistering statement calling on Sessions to steer clear of any investigation related to the fallout.

'No more excuses, recuse yourself and appoint a Special Counsel immediately, and come clean about any contacts you had with the Russians,' the far-left senator said.

'I am deeply concerned that Attorney General Sessions, under oath, misled the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to direct questions from myself and Senator Franken about his contacts with Russian officials. It is an egregious breach of public trust that Attorney General Sessions has not already recused himself. Now we must ask whether he has perjured himself.'

The attorney general said Wednesday that he did not consider the meetings with the Russian ambassador relevant to the lawmakers' questions during his confirmation hearing.

'There was absolutely nothing misleading about his answer,' said Sarah Isgur Flores, Sessions' spokeswoman. 'He was asked during the hearing about communications between Russia and the Trump campaign – not about meetings he took as a senator and a member of the Armed Services Committee.'

Flores added that the news of Sessions' failure to disclose his communications with the Russian ambassador were 'the latest attack against the Trump Administration by partisan Democrats.'

At his news conference later in the day, Sessions said he answered the question the way he did because he 'was taken aback a little bit about this brand new information, this allegation, that surrogates, and I had been called a surrogate, for Donald Trump, had been meeting continuously with Russian officials.

'And that's what struck me very hard, and that's what I focused my answer on, he stated. 'With retrospect, I should have slowed down, and said, "But I did meet one Russian official, a couple of times," that would be the ambassador.'

Pelosi has on Thursday morning branded his confirmation hearing denial 'apparent perjury' as she called on him to resign.

'Jeff Sessions lied under oath during his confirmation hearing before the Senate,' she said. 'Now, after lying under oath to Congress about his own communications with the Russians, the Attorney General must resign. Sessions is not fit to serve as the top law enforcement officer of our country and must resign.'

Dozens of progressive activists planted themselves outside the Department of Justice on Thursday afternoon

They chanted 'Sessions must go' and 'he lied under oath' as lawmakers spoke

Protesters also held up signs that said '#RESIST' and 'SESSIONS: RESIGN'

The Democratic leader's colleagues linked up with her in droves.

'Jeff Sessions lied under oath about his contacts with a country that's actively trying to undermine our democracy. So yes, he should resign,' California Rep. Mark Takano said.

Congresswoman Judy Chu of California said: 'Jeff Sessions lied to his Senate colleagues & American people about his meetings w/ Russians. He has betrayed trust already & must resign.'

Pelosi ally Jan Schakowsky of Illinois wrote, 'Under oath, Jeff #Sessions said: "I did not have communications with the Russians." He did. That's perjury. He must resign.'

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York said Sessions needs to be investigated by his own department.

'The @FBI must investigate Jeff Sessions for lying to Congress under oath #Perjury,' Jeffries tweeted.

Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern accused Sessions of participating in a Trump administration 'cover up' as he called for him to step down.

'Americans deserve the truth on #TrumpRussia lies. #Sessions is part of the cover-up,' he wrote on Twitter.

A previous message blasted Republicans for burying their heads in the sand. 'What universe is Jason Chaffetz living in? Republicans need to wake up. #Sessions is past recusal & must resign now,' McGovern said.

Congressman Tim Ryan, who earlier this year went head-to-head for a leadership pot with Pelosi, said recusal 'isn't enough, AG Sessions must resign. We need a 9/11 style commission to fully investigate Trump Administration ties to Russsia.'

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, refused to give her former colleague any cover as she scolded him on Twitter.

'I've been on the Armed Services Com for 10 years.No call or meeting w/Russian ambassador. Ever. Ambassadors call members of Foreign Rel Com.' she said.

Her claim was later found to be false - she has indeed met with Kislyak before.

Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, asked Sessions during the confirmation hearing what he would do if he learned that anyone with ties to the Trump campaign had communicated with the Russian government in the past year

Despite being asked about contacts between Trump's campaign and Russian officials at his confirmation hearing, Sessions he failed to disclose his own meetings

In a series of tweets, Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote: 'It's a simple q: "Have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election?"

'Jeff Sessions answered "No." Turns out he met with the Russian Ambassador. Two months before the election.

'Now Jeff Sessions is AG - the final say on the law enforcement investigation into ties between the Trump campaign & Russia? What a farce.

'This is not normal. This is not fake news. This is a very real & serious threat to the national security of the United States. We need a special prosecutor totally independent of the AG. We need a real, bipartisan, transparent Congressional investigation into Russia. And we need Attorney General Jeff Sessions – who should have never been confirmed in the first place - to resign. We need it now.'

Fellow Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, also called for Sessions to step down.

'It is inconceivable that even after Michael Flynn was fired for concealing his conversations with the Russia, that Attorney General Sessions would keep his own conversations secret for several more weeks,' he said.

'His statement was demonstrably false, yet... he continued to let it stand even as he watched the President tell the entire nation he didn't know anything about anyone advising his campaign talking to the Russians. Attorney General Sessions should resign immediately, and there is no longer any question that we need a truly independent commission to investigate this issue,' he said in a statement posted to Twitter.

Graham, a Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, did not call for Sessions' departure but insisted he should recuse himself from the decision of whether to pursue prosecution.

And he told CNN that the meetings may have been 'legitimate.'

'If there were contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, they may be legitimate; they may be OK. I want to know what happened between the Trump campaign, the Clinton campaign and the Russians.'

He had harsher words for Trump over his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

'When it comes to Russia, he has a blind spot. The bottom line is that Putin is disrupting democracy everywhere,' Graham said.

Even before the allegations that Sessions kept quiet about his meetings with Russian officials last year, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa broke ranks to see that the former senator was not in a position to oversee such an investigation and urged the administration to appoint an independent prosecutor.

'Any review conducted must have the full confidence of the American people, which is why I recommended an independent review,' Issa said Monday in a statement.

Sen. John McCain said that Trump and his administration had to start taking the Russian threat more seriously.

Resign: In a series of late night tweets, Senator Elizabeth Warren demanded an investigation into Russia's role in the election, a separate special prosecutor and the resignation of Sessions

House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes said he has not received any evidence that anyone in Trump's orbit was in contact with Russians during the presidential campaign

'Have no doubt, what the Russians tried to do to our election could have destroyed democracy,' he said. 'And that's why we've got to pay a hell of a lot more attention to the Russians and the things they're doing in Europe – and right now, they're trying to determine the outcome of the French election, and they're using cyber.'

Sessions' spokesman said that he held 25 meetings with foreign ambassadors last year as senator.

Trump has denied knowing that any of his campaign advisers were in contact with Russians during the campaign. He has also said he has no financial ties or other connections to Russia.

The party divide on the probe is evidence that partisan discord is already seeping into House and Senate investigations of the Kremlin's interference.

Both Republicans and Democrats say they can still conduct bipartisan probes, but there are renewed calls for a special prosecutor amid a related revelation that the White House enlisted the GOP chairmen of the House and Senate intelligence committees to push back on news reports claiming Trump advisers were in contact with Russians.

In the House a simmering dispute exploded on Monday between the intelligence committee's top Republican and Democrat.

Rep. Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he has not seen any evidence from the intelligence community that anyone in Trump's orbit was in contact with Russians during the presidential campaign.

Nunes, a member of Trump's presidential transition team, has admitted that the White House asked him to talk with one reporter about the matter.

He says Trump's team didn't give him any guidance on what to say. The congressman said he told that reporter the same thing he'd said to many other reporters in the course of discussions.

The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, also of California, said the panel has not reached any conclusion on whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, Russian officials or any Russian contacts.

Sessions (left) and Trump (right) arrived for his first joint address to Congress yesterday. Both parties have pledged to launch a probe into the president and Washington's ties to Russia

The latest claims about the attorney general will raise further questions about Trump's relationship with Putin (file picture)

'Nor could we,' he said. 'We have called no witnesses thus far. We have obtained no documents on any counterintelligence investigation and we have yet to receive any testimony from the FBI of potential links between the Trump campaign and Russia.'

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Russia's activity with regard to the 2016 election has been 'investigated up and down.'

'If there's nothing to further investigate, what are you asking people to investigate,' Spicer declared.

Trump was asked Monday whether he would support a special prosecutor to investigate Russia's influence on the 2016 election. Instead of answering that question, he said, 'I haven't called Russia in 10 years.'

According to a White House description, the last time Trump spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin was January 28. The White House says Putin initiated the call. Trump's last known trip to Russia was in 2013 for the Miss Universe beauty pageant in Moscow.

Trump has denied knowing that any of his campaign advisers were in contact with Russians during the campaign. He has also said he has no financial ties or other connections to Russia.