Fox News’s Tucker Carlson invited Attorney General Jeff Sessions on his show Thursday night, just hours after he recused himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into Russia’s influence on the 2016 election. He took the opportunity as Carlson's primetime guest to emphasize his innocence.
Sessions explained that the question he received from Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) at his January confirmation hearing focused specifically on whether he had spoken with Russia continually about the presidential campaign. While Sessions has now admitted he met twice with the Russian ambassador last year, he said they did not have any such conversations about political campaigns.
Why, though, Carlson wondered, did former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s own Russian scandal not raise any red flags with him? After all, Flynn was eventually pressured to resign.
“It was never a thought,” Sessions insisted. It was "unrelated."
The Russian officials and any one else in the room at the times of his meetings would corroborate that he "did not say one thing that was improper."
Yet, the damage has been done as several lawmakers have called for him to resign.
“It was a sad thing to be attacked like that,” Sessions said. “But I’ve explained it and we’re moving forward.”
Sessions maintained his innocence, noting that his recusal was “not an admission of any wrongdoing.” He had to do it, he explained, because he had been a part of the Trump campaign and could not be perceived as a fair overseer of the case.