Nancy Pelosi calls on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign

Saying that he "lied under oath during his confirmation hearing before the Senate," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday night called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign.

The Washington Post published an article earlier in the evening that detailed two meetings Sessions had last year with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. during Donald Trump's presidential campaign. At the time, Sessions was a Republican senator from Alabama and one of Trump's top foreign policy advisers; during his attorney general confirmation hearing in January, Sessions said he was "called a surrogate a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians." Pelosi said "we now know that statement is false," and Sessions "has never had the credibility to oversee the FBI investigation of senior Trump officials' ties to the Russians. That is why Democrats have consistently called for Sessions to recuse himself from any oversight of the investigation."

In light of the Post's report and the Justice Department confirming Sessions did meet with Sergey Kislyak twice, Pelosi said he "is not fit to serve as the top law enforcement officer of our country and must resign. There must be an independent, bipartisan, outside commission to investigate the Trump political, personal, and financial connections to the Russians."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up