WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement regarding Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ meetings with the Russian Ambassador, which then-Senator Sessions seemingly denied in written and oral testimony before Congress:

“We need honesty and transparency from the Attorney General, our nation’s chief law enforcement officer.  It turns out Jeff Sessions didn’t provide that in his testimony, but he must do so now.

“At a bare minimum, Attorney General Sessions needs to recuse himself and an independent special prosecutor must be put in place to probe the serious and mounting allegations about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives and officials.  After misleading Congress, Attorney General Sessions is incapable of leading the investigation.  In fact, he could be a subject of it.

“Jeff Sessions knows he should have disclosed these meetings before his confirmation vote.  Now he needs to answer legitimate questions about his actions and why he withheld this information.

“And look, this goes beyond the Attorney General.  The President needs to come clean and Republicans in Congress need to put the good of our country and the strength of our democracy ahead of partisan interests.  U.S. intelligence clearly shows that the Russians interfered with our election.  If Republicans impede fair and open investigations, wherever they lead, then Russia will continue its misconduct and Republicans will have enabled it to continue.”