Purger himself when he said he had not had any contacts with the russian. She said normal people would face jail time for such a thing. Her colleague on the senate side, chuck schumer, he wouldnt go that far. He did not say he believed Jeff Sessions had purgered himself before the committee. He did say he misled congress and that that was enough to call for his resignation. Other democrats following suit. Among republicans you have similar and i think for the purposes of discussions Jeff Sessions future as both attorney general and in the context of this investigation, thats probably what matters the most. And there are fissures. You have a trail of senators out there saying Jeff Sessions needs to recuse himself from any investigation into russia and the Trump Campaign that may be going on. Senator Lindsey Graham is one of them. Senator susan collins. Senator dean heller. Senator rob portman, all kind of considered to be some of the more moderate voices in the republican party, people
They used an a. M. Bat door as top agent as a kree kruter. It led to flynns oust eras security advisor. And vital intelligence, sources tell cnn that the yemen raid in alqaeda which cost the life of a navy seal did produce valuable intelligence, laptops and cell phones with hundreds of names and information for future u. S. Strikes. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Breaking news. Suddenly the Trump Administration is being rocked by another fastgrowing crisis over shadowing the president s dramatic visit today to the navys newest aircraft carrier. The attorney general Jeff Sessions has just recused himself, meaning hes stepping aside, from any investigations into contacts between the Trump Campaign and russian officials. Key republicans today have been calling on him to do just that, while there are calls from democrats for him to step down. At issue, revelations that sessions then a u. S. Senator and trump advisor, met with russias amba
King. Pete williams is in washington, Peter Alexander at the white house, kasie hunt on the hill, one of the reporters who broke the sessions story, ellen nokashima of the Washington Post and eliza collins. I want to start immediately with ellen who broke this story, front page piece, a huge scoop. Walk us through this. Sessions was saying his meeting with the Russian Ambassador was as his official capacity as a senator on the Armed Services committee drawing this distinction as a surrogate or somebody who campaigned for the president on the campaign trail. Talk about how this came up. Jeff sessions during his confirmation hearing in january said he had never had any communications with russian officials. As it turns out last year at the height of the concerns of the investigation of the russian hacks and influence in the president ial campaign, then senator session himself a oneonone meeting with the Russian Ambassador in his office on capitol hill it was one of, to be fair, about two
Ambassador at the center of this kris . Is he a diplomat . Or as many people are saying in washington, d. C. Today, a spy . Are the Democrats Holding the Administration Accountable or are they, once again, overplaying their hand. . We have another big lineup this morning including the top House Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, congressman adam schiff. Also a member of the Senate Intelligence committee senator angus king and member of the Richard Blumenthal and ambassador mike mcfaul. Mika is down with the weather this morning. We have willie geist and John Heilemann and Nick Confessore and ai ari melber and kasie hun. Yesterday morning i got the sense we were going to be spending the next few days talking about an administration stonewalling and not getting it. Now, of course, Jeff Sessions moves out pretty quickly and follows the advice of a lot of us had around the set, which is get out there and recuse yourself and try to get that part of the story behind us. As we are saying
Martha neustadt attorney general sessions have met with the same diplomat that eventually took down Michael Flynn dominated the day. At 4 00 p. M. , sessions faced reporters. I have decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matter relating in any way to the campaign for president of the United States. This announcement should not be interpreted as confirmation of the existence of any investigation or suggestive of the scope of any such investigation. Speak to that statement, no doubt forced by the buzz that went on all day. President trump defended his attorney general. Mr. President. Total. Do you think you should have spoken truthfully . He probably did. For the good of the country, attorney general sessions should resign. People are refusing partisan politics prethey should be ashamed of themselves. The top cop in our country lied under oath. He has proved he is unqualified and unfit. Its ridiculous. Our friends on the other side are hyperventilating