Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer joined many of his top Democrat Congressional peers including Nancy Pelosi, Elijah Cummins and Elizabeth Warren, in calling for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign and be investigated by the DOJ’s inspector general to determine whether he compromised an investigation into Russian influence.
“It would be better for the country if he resigned,” Schumer told reporters. “You have to be above reproach,” he added.
Sen. Chuck Schumer: "For the good of the country, Attorney General Sessions should resign." pic.twitter.com/56JlGR5lG9
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 2, 2017
In recent weeks Schumer had called for Sessions to recuse himself from the DOJ probe of contacts between Trump campaign administration officials and Russian intelligence agents. He stepped up his demands after last night's report that Sessions misled Congress about meeting with the Russian ambassador.
Schumer said there was nothing wrong with Sessions meeting with the Russian ambassador, but that he transgressed by misleading lawmakers about whether he met with Sergey Kislyak in July and September. “If there was nothing wrong — Why didn’t you come clean to Congress and tell the whole truth?” Schumer asked.
Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi, who was among the first to call for Sessions' scalp, slammed Republicans calling for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from investigations into Russia, saying it's too late for that. “We are far past recusal. Jeff #Sessions lied under oath. Anything less than resignation or removal from office is unacceptable,” Pelosi tweeted.
We are far past recusal. Jeff #Sessions lied under oath. Anything less than resignation or removal from office is unacceptable.
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) March 2, 2017
It's not just Democrats who are displeased with Sessions. As reported previously, both the House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz were among the Republicans key GOP voices who have called for recusal. Sessions said early Thursday that he would be willing to recuse himself if it's "appropriate.”
Meanwhile, according to Axios, Top White House officials were scrambling last night to grasp the significance of Jeff Sessions' contacts with Russia's ambassador and figure out what to do about it.
According to sources close to the President's inner circle and to Sessions are very defensive and believe the "opposition party" media is elevating mundane interactions. Despite the growing clamor from Democrats, there's about a zero percent chance President Trump will fire Sessions or that the House will impeach him — the only ways he could leave.
This does, however, strengthen the case for an independent investigation, and the chances just got a lot higher that Sessions recuses himself from any FBI investigation of the Trump campaign's alleged contacts with Russian officials. Especially now that some prominent Republicans believe this should happen.
Trump has yet to tweet on the matter.