White House aides told to preserve materials in Russian Federation probe

Sessions, a former Republican senator and an advisor to U.S. president Donald Trump during the race, had testified during his Senate confirmation hearing in January that he had not had communications with the Russians during the campaign.

During the Senate confirmation process to become attorney general, Sessions denied having any contact with Russian officials during the campaign.

Michael Flynn resigned in February after his discussions of USA sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office were discovered.

Sessions and spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores have said his statement was truthful because he met with the Russian ambassador in his capacity as a senator, not as a Trump campaign surrogate. The content of what was discussed in those two meetings has not been disclosed.

“I don’t have all the information in front of me, I don’t want to pre-judge, but I just think for any investigation going forward, you want to make sure everybody trusts the investigation”, McCarthy said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”.

He also said: “I have been called a surrogate a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians”.

Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the Senate, called for Sessions to step down.

Trump has backed his attorney general and accused Democrats of blowing the issue out of proportion for political purposes.

After earlier swiping at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Trump tweeted: “I hereby demand a second investigation, after Schumer, of Pelosi for her close ties to Russian Federation, and lying about it”. The picture shows them drinking coffee and eating donuts.

Also on Thursday, Sessions recused himself from any investigations into Russia’s involvement into Trump’s presidential campaign.

Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump and his son-in-law, attended a controversial meeting in December between a Russian diplomat and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, The New York Times reported. That is after news broke that he failed to tell the whole truth under oath about his meetings with Russian officials.

King reiterated his stance that Sessions should recuse himself but did not call for his resignation.

The sources told the Times that USA allies had provided information of meetings in European cities between Russian officials and associates of Trump. The Kremlin has denied the allegations. Sessions was an early Trump supporter and one of his top advisers during the campaign. Al Franken (D-MN) at his January confirmation hearing focused specifically on whether he had spoken with Russian Federation continually about the presidential campaign.

Congressional staffers have said they are not aware of any evidence that materials related to Russian Federation are not being preserved.