Durbin & Duckworth Call For Sessions To Recuse Himself From Russia Investigations

By aaroncynic in News on Mar 2, 2017 6:12PM

Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth have joined a chorus of lawmakers in Washington demanding Attorney General Jeff Sessions recuse himself from any inquiries into potential ties the Trump administration and its surrogates may have had with Russian officials.

During his confirmation hearings, Sessions was questioned by Senator Al Franken as to whether the Trump administration might’ve had contacts with the Russian government during the campaign. Under oath, Sessions said he was unable to comment on it but he “didn’t have—did not have communications with the Russians.”

As it turns out, he did, according to investigators with the Justice Department who say he in fact, spoke with the Russian Ambassador twice in 2016.

“Remember, he’s a former prosecutor, member of the Senate for 20 years,” Durbin told Politico. “He’s been pretty tough himself on witnesses, asking lengthy lists of questions, so I expected that he [came to his confirmation hearing] with that understanding.” While the Senator isn’t yet calling for his resignation, he did tell the Dallas News and Tweeted that Sessions should recuse himself from investigations into potential election tampering by the Russian government.

AG Sessions must recuse himself from any #RussianConnection investigation. https://t.co/VQavEeHlaV

— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) March 2, 2017

"If he does it sooner rather than later, it may give him a chance to explain his side of the story," said Durbin, who added that the exchange between Franken and Sessions was odd. “If he had answered the question in error, that's one thing, but to volunteer a wrong answer needs some explanations,” he said.

Duckworth was much harsher in her condemnation, saying in a statement emailed to Chicagoist Sessions must immediately recuse himself to “ensure a fair investigation” into the administration’s potential ties with the Russian government and if he refuses or it’s found he lied under oath, the Attorney General must resign.

“With each passing day the need for a public, transparent, impartial and independent investigation into this Administration’s ties with foreign adversaries, as well as into who knew what and when they knew it, only grows,” said Duckworth. “Our national security and the integrity of our democracy could very well depend on it.”