Dems Are Digging Themselves A Very Deep Hole If They Continue With The False Russian Narrative

Al Franken calls on Sessions to come ‘forward with the truth’

By Mark Moore

March 2, 2017 | 9:27am

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Sen. Al Franken on Thursday called for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to come “forward with the truth” about what he discussed with the Russian ambassador.

“Because again he’s contradicting himself. And for him to say – or for their spokesperson to say – he had no recollection of his conversation, and then later to say, well I did talk to him but we didn’t talk about the election – that’s contradictory,” Franken (D-Minn.) said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

In January, Franken asked Sessions during the Alabama senator’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee how he would react if anyone “affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government.”

Sessions replied: “I’m not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.”

Sessions, a longtime backer of Donald Trump, met with the Russian ambassador twice during the presidential campaign, according to the Department of Justice.

Franken said Sessions needs to come clean about what was discussed.

“I would like to see him answer questions at a press conference.

And then we can decide whether he should resign or not,” Franken said.

But the senator said the attorney general “must recuse himself from any investigation the FBI is doing or from any investigation at all into the ties of the Trump campaign to the Russians as the Russians were interfering with our democratic elections.”

Late Wednesday evening when the allegations surfaced, Sessions admitted meeting with the Russian ambassador, but denied they discussed anything related to the campaign.

Asked Thursday morning whether he could recuse himself from any probes into the Trump campaigns links with Moscow, Sessions said he would.

“Well, I’ve said that whenever it’s appropriate, I will recuse myself. There’s no doubt about that,” he told NBC.