Obama officials reportedly rushed to preserve intel on Russian election hacking

During his confirmation hearing in January, Mr Sessions responded to a question from Democratic senator Al Franken that he did not “have communications with the Russians” during the course of the presidential campaign.

Mr Sessions said he was “honest and correct” in his responses during his confirmation hearing, although he acknowledged he “should have slowed down” and mentioned he had met the ambassador in his role as a senator.

Bowing to bipartisan pressure on Thursday, Sessions recused himself from any federal investigation of Russia’s intervention in the 2016 presidential election, though some Democrats maintain he should also resign.

“Sessions’s decision to recuse himself came just hours after President Trump said calls for Sessions to resign amounted to a “total witch hunt”. I have no idea what this allegation is about.

Russian officials dispute this characterization.

Naturally, Sessions’s people are denying any wrongdoing and arguing that his answers to the various questions posed to him while under oath were totally fine. The Washington Post first disclosed the meetings on Wednesday.

Leading Democratic lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Massachusetts Sen. That is after news broke that he failed to tell the whole truth under oath about his meetings with Russian officials.

Sessions’ agreement to respond to questions in writing came after the committee’s nine Democrats asked the committee’s chairman, Senator Chuck Grassley, to call Sessions back before the committee to testify publicly on the matter. A spokesman told Politico that Pelosi had meant to convey she’d never met the Russian diplomat one on one.

In a separate questionnaire, Sessions more directly denied personally contacting any Russian officials regarding the 2016 election.

He should resign as US attorney general.

That tweet – which followed Trump’s previous tweet that said “we should start an immediate investigation” into Schumer “and his ties to Russian Federation and Putin” – incorrectly spelled the word “hereby” and got zapped.

The FBI is investigating alleged Russian involvement in November’s USA presidential election.

Sessions, however, had two separate meetings.

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday reported his two meetings that led to calls for Sessions’ resignation by Democrats, who have accused him of misleading congress.

The Associated Press news agency reports that White House lawyers instructed Mr Trump’s staff on Tuesday to preserve materials that could be connected to Russian interference in November’s election. The three administration officials who confirmed that White House staffers were instructed to comply did so on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the counsel’s office memo publicly. “When the (intelligence community) does that type of comprehensive review, it is standard practice that a significant amount of information would be compiled and documented”. “They lost the election and now, they have lost their grip on reality”, Trump said in his statement late Thursday.