Washington, DC
All 11 members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation are calling for the resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the wake of reports that he met with a Russian official during the 2016 campaign season and failed to disclose those meetings under oath.
The state’s nine representatives and two senators, all Democrats, released statements following a Wednesday Washington Post report that Sessions, who oversees inquiries into Russia’s involvement in the US election as head of the Justice Department, met with Russia’s ambassador twice in 2016.
Sessions testified under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee in January that he had not had contact with Russia.
“I’m not aware of any of those activities,” he said during his confirmation hearing in January. “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren quickly took to Twitter in the hours after the story was published Wednesday evening, calling both for Sessions to resign and for a special prosecutor to look into Russian involvement in the election.
Many of the statements calling for Sessions’ resignation focused on the apparent contradiction between his Senate testimony and the Washington Post report.
“Americans need to be able to trust our nation’s top law enforcement official, and it’s becoming clear that Sessions lied to the public under oath,” Representative Katherine Clark said in a statement.
Representative Niki Tsongas also cited Sessions’ January testimony in a statement posted Thursday.
“His failure to disclose his own meetings with Russian officials, while under oath during his confirmation hearings, demonstrates his disregard for the truth and disqualifies him from serving as our Attorney General,” she said.
“AG #Sessions should resign. This is exactly why we need an independent special counsel to investigate #TrumpRussia,” Senator Ed Markey said on Twitter Thursday.
Representative Jim McGovern said on Twitter Thursday that recusal is not enough.
“The Attorney General LIED to Congress & the American people,” he said.
The Mass. congressional delegation joins Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate calling on Sessions to resign.
“After lying under oath to Congress about his own communications with the Russians, the Attorney General must resign,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer similarly called for the new attorney general to resign, and said a special prosecutor should be appointed.
On the other side of the aisle, several top Republican lawmakers Thurdsday called on Sessions to recuse himself from any investigation into Russian interference in the election.
