President Donald Trump is backing Attorney General Jeff Sessions as Democrats on Capitol Hill demand his resignation and a criminal investigation into a routine meeting with the Russian ambassador last year.
According to the White House pool report from Norfolk, where Trump spoke to Navy sailors Thursday, when asked about his confidence level in Sessions the President responded with "total."
During an interview with Fox News anchor Abby Huntsman this morning, Press Secretary Sean Spicer strongly denounced calls for Sessions to recuse himself from any investigation into communications between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.
"There's nothing, he's been 100 percent straight. The testimony and question he was asked is whether he was aware of Trump campaign officials doing something in their capacity of campaign officials and information they got in the past. That answer is consistently no," Spicer said. "He made a statement that was 100 percent accurate and he stands by that."
"There's nothing to recuse himself [over]. He was 100 percent straight with the Committee and I think people who are choosing to play partisan politics over this should be ashamed of themselves," Spicer continued.
"There's nothing to recuse himself [from]. He was 100% straight with the committee." -@seanspicer to @HuntsmanAbby on AG Jeff Sessions pic.twitter.com/kDU9lrgvZX
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) March 2, 2017
Earlier, House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz called for Sessions to recuse himself and clarify testimony he gave to Congress about his contact with Russia. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy echoed Chaffetz. The leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia government.