{"id":298557,"date":"2017-03-03T07:11:26","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T07:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=298557"},"modified":"2017-03-03T07:11:26","modified_gmt":"2017-03-03T07:11:26","slug":"democrats-renew-jeff-sessions-attack-over-russia-contacts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/03\/democrats-renew-jeff-sessions-attack-over-russia-contacts\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats renew Jeff Sessions attack over Russia contacts"},"content":{"rendered":"
Democrats have stepped up their attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying his explanation regarding his contacts with the Russian ambassador in 2016 were “simply not credible”.<\/p>\n
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi insists Mr Sessions should step down.<\/p>\n
But President Donald Trump said he was “an honest man” and called the Democrat attacks “a total witch hunt”.<\/p>\n
Mr Sessions earlier removed himself from an FBI inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the US election.<\/p>\n
But he said he did not lie at January’s confirmation hearing, when he said he had “no communications with the Russians”.<\/p>\n
He insisted his comments at his confirmation hearing were “honest and correct as I understood it at the time”.<\/p>\n
Mr Sessions was speaking after it had emerged that he met Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak twice last year.<\/p>\n
Mr Sessions was at the time a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. But he was already a prominent member of Donald Trump’s campaign team.<\/p>\n
In a separate development on Thursday, a White House official said Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and ousted National Security Adviser Michael Flynn met Mr Kislyak in December – after the 8 November election.<\/p>\n
The official was speaking on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
Mr Flynn was fired last month after he misled the White House about his conversations with the Moscow diplomat, allegedly regarding US sanctions.<\/p>\n
Claims of Kremlin interference have dogged President Trump.<\/p>\n
In a series of tweets on Thursday, President Donald Trump defended Mr Sessions.<\/p>\n
He admitted Mr Sessions “could have stated his response more accurately” but said it was “clearly not intentional”.<\/p>\n
He said the Democrats were carrying out a witch hunt to try to save face for losing the election.<\/p>\n
He added: “The real story is all of the illegal leaks of classified and other information.”<\/p>\n
‘Sorry attempt’<\/strong><\/p>\n Ms Pelosi on Thursday repeated her call for Mr Sessions to quit.<\/p>\n She said his “his narrow recusal and sorry attempt to explain away his perjury” were totally inadequate.<\/p>\n