admitted tonight that his attorney general, jeff sessions, did not tell the judiciary committee the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. >> i have now decided to recuse myself. >> the recusal isn't enough. >> we need an independent special prosecutor. >> mr. president, do you still have confidence in your attorney general? >> total. >> the attorney general, the top cop in our country, lied under oath. >> i didn't not have communications with the russians. and i'm unable to comment. >> very well. attorney sessions should resign. >> honest and correct as i understood it at the time. >> cases of amnesia, it appears. >> i would like the judiciary committee to explain this testimony for the record. >> sessions' meeting happened in september. it was an active month. >> you should know. >> he has to be brought back to the judiciary committee and provide an explanation. >> people are choosing to play partisan politics. they should be ashamed of themselves. >> when there's this much smoke, is that a partisan thing to say, we should investigate whether there's fire. jeff sessions

live coverage. the attorney general under fire. the president said jeff sessions should not recuse himself from any investigation of russian links to the trump campaign. this runs counter to a growing list of members of his own party. including top house democrat nancy pelosi are suggesting he resign, all of this revealing that sessions a former campaign official met with russian am bass tw -- ambassador twice during the campaign. he fail today disclose this twice. after several of the president elect's nominees where -- have russian ties have you been in contact with anyone in part of if russian government either before or after election day. no, he suspended. also on camera sessions had this exchange. >> cnn just published a story alleging that the intelligence community provided documents to the president-elect last week that included information that quote russian operatives claimed to have compromising personal and financial information about mr. trump. these documents also allegedly stated quote there was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between trump

tonight." attorney general jeff sessions as adviser to the trump campaign had meetings with the russian ambassador to the u.s. but can't disclose them at confirmation hearings. joined by greg. correspondent at "washington post." you're reporting that senator jeff sessions spoke with russia's ambassador to the u.s. during the presidential campaign, contacts he doesn't disclose in confirmation hearings. what are officials telling you? >> not just during the campaign but as recent as september. at height of the alarm in washington about the russian hack of the u.s. election. in the middle of all that that sessions has a private meeting with the russian ambassador in senate office. two or three months later is asked during confirmation hearing, did you have any contacts or communications with russians during the campaign and can't remember that meeting several months earlier. >> i have the sound bite. let's listen to it. >> if there is any evidence that any one affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do? >> se

donald trump defending jeff sessions saying he did nothing wrong during his confirmation hearings. but he added sessions' answers could have been more accurate. >> even so, attorney general sessions recused himself from any investigation into the 2016 presidential campaign. sessions failed to disclose meetings during his confirmation hearings. >> i had not had any such meetings. i was not meeting with russian officials on a continuing basis to advance any campaign agenda. sometime before that, i had met in my office in an official way with the russian ambassador and so i -- that was the answer i gave and i think it was an honest answer, tucker. i thought i was responding exactly to that question and it really became a big brouhaha. >> meanwhile, a senior trump administration official said the president's son-in-law and former national security advisor mickael franklin also met with the russian ambassador at trump tower in december. >> california talk radio host and republican national committeeman. >> from san diego trump supporter gina loudoun. >> jeff session's fate is probably in the h

>>> break news is attorney general jeff sessions, when still senator and adviser to the trump campaign had meetings with russia's ambassador to the u.s. but didn't disclose it in confirmation hearings. this is "cnn tonight," i'm don lemon. thanks for joining me. evan perez, what are you learning tonight about the two meetings between senator jeff sessions and russian ambassador. >> well don, at issue are two meetings that then senator jeff sessions, now tern general jeff sessions had with the top russian ambassador here in washington. sergey kislyak, one of the them on the sidelines of the republican national convention in july. event sponsored by the heritage foundation. about 50 ambassadors at event he met with. second in september in jeff sessions' office at time he was member of the armed services committee. and two of them had a private meeting in his office in the senate. reason this is disconcerting or an issue is because sessions said at his confirmation hearings in january that when he was asked whether or not -- what he would do if there were any meetings or contacts

accusing attorney general jeff sessions of lying under oath, going further than many on this one, and joining a chorus of democratic lawmakers calling on jeff sessions to resign his post. republicans not going there, but there is a growing list right now of republicans calling for the attorney general to recuse himself from the justice department's russia probe. justice department officials, just to bring you up to speed here, justice department officials are now revealing that jeff sessions met twice with russia's ambassador to the united states last year. but sessions did not mention either of those meetings while testifying under oath during his confirmation hearings. listen to this. >> cnn just published a story alleging that the intelligence community provided documents to the president-elect last week that included information that, quote, russian operatives claimed to have compromising personal and financial information about mr. trump. these documents also allegedly say, quote, there was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between trump surrogates and

nbc news confirming attorney general jeff sessions met with russia's ambassador to the u.s. right in the thick of the 2016 campaign. the attorney general not answering questions about any of this, talking to msnbc news. >> i never met with any russians at any time to discuss any political campaign and those remarks are unbelievable to me and are false. >> we've also got house leader nancy pelosi live at the podium. we're going to bring it to you as democrats already now calling for sessions to resign. what about republicans? well, some are now hoping that the attorney general will step away from any investigation into russia's election interference. this hour we are talking with iowa congressman and member of the judiciary committee steve king. pete williams is in washington, peter alexander at the white house, kasie hunt on the hill, one of the reporters who broke the sessions story, ellen nokashima of "the washington post" and eliza collins. i want to start immediately with ellen who broke this story, front page piece, a huge scoop. walk us through this. sessions was saying his

general jeff sessions, the white house and the justice department firing back after allegations that sessions talk to russian officials during the campaign, but did not tell the truth about it. democrats calling for sessions to step down and a growing number of republicans are urging him to clarify his testimony and recuse himself or many investigations. this is outnumbered, i meghan mccain coming here today, harris faulkner, sandra smith, rachel campos-duffy, and guy benson and your outnumbered and purple fie fied. >> harris: congrats on your northwestern wildcats, my frien friend! >> meghan: unfortunately, we've got a get started. let's get started with attorney general jeff sessions. the white house and the doj pushing back hard on reports that he lied to congress during his confirmation hearing. sessions, saying he never met with any russian officials during the campaign on campaign related issues, the white house calling the story "the latest attack by partisan." democrats want sessions to redesign and a special prosecutor to be repointed. here's chuck schumer. >> there can be c

action revolving tomorrow around the attorney general jeff sessions who testified he had not been in contact with the russian government. >> i didn't have communications with the russians. >> no communications. except he did. now some republicans are asking him to recuse himself from an investigation into the trump team. but top democrats say the attorney general needs to go. i'll speak live with the republican senator lindsey graham in this hour. plus, drastic action from the obama administration in its final days. staffers so concerned that the trump team would cover up intelligence about russia, they spread the intel everywhere they could. you'll hear what fox news has learned about that. let's get to it. first from the fox news desk, the attorney general jeff sessions is facing backlash for lawmakers on both sides of the political idea. this after reports that the former trump campaign advisor spoke twice the russia's ambassador during the election and never disclosed it in his confirmation hearings. here's what then senator sessions told the senate judiciary committee in january

>> thanks so much, mika. there is so much to cover. breaking news. jeff sessions urnds fire. the attorney general speaking out exclusively to nbc. >> i have not met with any russians at anytime. >> the revelations he had contact with the ambassador to russia not once, but twice despite this claim under oath. >> i did not have communications with the russians. >> the response, recuse or resign? a growing chorus of democratic lawmakers forcing him to step back from the russia investigation, even step down. >> certainly should recuse himself. i think he should resign. >> plus, record run. the stock market on an epic rally, topping 21,000 after president trump's big speech. and snapchat going public today. will this push the market higher? >>> you know what we have to start with with, attorney general jeff sessions and the headache for the trump administration. we have the best team out in force. first, i want to break down exactly what we know. then senator, jeff sessions began working with the trump campaign heading up his foreign policy team. five months after that, the justice de

attorney general, jeff sessions. you just heard him say that again as some democrats call for his resignation. all of this after "the washington post" reported then-senator sessions met with russia's ambassador twice last year while sessions was a key adviser to the trump campaign pop a fast-moving day it request be hard to figure out what's going on. kasie hunt joins me live from capitol hill. give me the update at this moment. we just heard the president on that carrier speaking to journalists, saying he's confident, he doesn't think jeff sessions should recuse himself. what are they saying on capitol hill? where are we at? >> reporter: well, kate, at this point we are -- we still have a small but still growing slowly pile of republicans who are saying that jeff sessions should recuse himself from any investigation into russia and the trump campaign at this point and in light of this new information. but you also have republicans who are out there defending him. people like senator ted cruz, house speaker paul ryan, saying that the attorney general doesn't have too much of a con

president trump had last night with attorney general jeff sessions? did they meet? >> i believe they had dinner, yes. they did. >> and the subject? >> look, he's the attorney general of the united states. um -- >> who recused himself this week. >> he's one of the cabinet members for the president. we have a lot of activity ongoing. potential for an e.o. coming out at some point that would certainly involve the attorney general. i would imagine that came up during dinner. >> does the president still believe attorney general jeff sessions should not have recused himself? >> the president believes jeff sessions is a good man and that he didn't do anything wrong. so i certainly feel that he didn't feel it was necessary. but he also is very supportive of the attorney general. >> and did the white house ask attorney general sessions specifically not to recuse himself? >> look, the white house was not involved in the details of, you

the issue here is the facts. what did jeff sessions do? did he tell the truth under oath about what he did and do the facts about what he did and said compromise his authority as the nation's chief law enforcement officer. >> this morning cnn learned jeff sessions who was a u. slt senator and trump campaign supporter met twice last year with the russian ambassador to russia. why might this matter? because repeated contacts between trump officials and ambassadors and senator sessions under oath said he was not part of it. >> and if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do? >> senator franken, i'm not aware of any of those activity. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and i did not have communications with the russians. >> i did not have communications with the russians he said then. now we know he did have communications with the russian ambassador. but a short time ago he defended this sworn testimony. >> well, i have not met with any ru

. first, republicans are now turning up the heat on attorney general jeff sessions, manu raju joins me. i want to ask you about republican senator lindsey graham, he met with the fbi director jim comey, what do we know about this, manu. >> reporter: graham is not talking about that. he is going to put out a statement explaining exactly what happened, that he would not comment further. comey just made rounds and democrats frustrated with comey, they wanted to know more about the hacking, and contacts between trump officials and russian officials. and calling for jeff sessions to recuse himself and independent indication into the russia issue as well as these potential contacts. now some republicans are joining that call for recusal. they're not going as far as an independent investigation but are saying it is time for jeff sessions to recuse himself in the aftermath of these reports showing he did in fact meet with russian ambassador suggesting otherwise in his sworn testimony at the senate judiciary committee. take a look. >> i don't think you need a special prosecutor but he should re

calm the firestorm. tonight white house crisis, calls for attorney general jeff sessions to recuse himself or resign over his meeting with the russian ambassador. late today sessions responded. >> i have now decided to recuse myself. >> this after tough words from democrats. >> attorney general sessions should resign. >> grounds for him to resign. >> and who is this russian ambassador who has already cost michael flynn his job and has the white house scrambling today? this is "mtp daily," and it starts right now. >>> good evening. i'm katy tur from new york. in for chuck todd. to the president involving embattled attorney general jeff sessions. moments ago sessions held a press conference announcing he is recusing himself from any investigation involving the trump campaign. >> i asked for the candid and honest opinion about what i should do about investigations. se certain investigations. my staff recommended recusal. they said that since i had involvement with the campaign i should not be involved in any campaign investigation. i believe those recommendations are right and just. t

minutes, attorney general jeff sessions will be making a statement from the justice department. we will bring you his remarks live on bloomberg television and radio. the threat to u.s. airports from terror groups such as al qaeda an islamic state is expected to grow because of instability in parts of the middle east and asia. speaking at an aviation summit in washington, former deputy director of the cia mike morrell says the focus on fighting islamic state has allowed al qaeda and its offshoots to "rebound" in countries like yemen, pakistan, and afghanistan. morrell says that as islamic state loses territory in syria and iraq, tens of thousands of its fighters who poured in from other countries will leave comments and some will try to infiltrate the united states. egypt's top appeals court has acquitted former president hosni mubarak on charges of killing protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his nearly three-decade rain. ministerhis interior were sentenced to life in prison in 2012. but another court overturned the verdict two years later. the 88-year-old ailing former leader

administration and high drama. democrats say attorney general jeff sessions did not tell the truth in his confirmation hearing and should resign. >> jeff sessions, the attorney general of the united states, lied under oath to his colleagues in the senate and to the american people about his communications with the russians. the fact that the attorney general, the top cop in our country, lied under oath to the american people is grounds for him to resign. >> because the department of justice should be above reproach for the good of the country, attorney general sessions should resign. >> republicans reject talk of resignation but there is a gop split on whether the attorney general must now recuse himself from the investigation into russia election meddling. many influential republicans say, yes, sessions should declare now he will recuse himself. but speaker paul ryan moments ago pushed back. >> if he himself is a subject of an investigation, of course, he would. but if he's not, i don't see any purpose or reason to do this. we have seen no evidence from any of these ongoing investigation

a defense agreement of nato. >> all right. casey, what did you learn? >> i think jeff sessions has a lot of questions to answer so far. joe? >> thank you, casey. thank you everybody. there are a lot of questions being asked today for good reason. it seems like everything that the trump administration has said the last month about contacts with russians may not be true. well, that's all the time we have for this morning and this week. thank you so much for being with with us. let's stick around and get more news coverage from stephanie ruhle. stephanie? what are you looking at today? >> so, so much. breaking news overnight. president trump firing back, calling accusations against his attorney general a total witch hunt as jeff sessions speaks out in a new interview. >> i think it was hyped beyond reason and i think it was unfair. >> undisclosed meeting. the white house now admitting more, you heard me, more key members met with the russian ambassador. this time, jared kushner and michael flynn inside trump tower. here is the question, what happens next amid growing calls for a full-

trump world's troubling contacts with russia concentrating on the jeff sessions chapter of that scandal and we will consider the question what would jeff sessions have done differently today if he knew he was guilty of perjury. >> big news out of the kremlin -- sorry, i misread that. white house. >> we have the southern white house in florida and we get a lot of work done. >> blasting old pictures, senator chuck schumer with vladimir putin. >> and he even enjoyed a krispy kreme doughnut. >> nancy pelosi with the russian ambassador in 2010. >> you were one of the first people to call for jeff sessions to resign. >> for him to say "well, i was just meeting with him --" with. >> i do remember saying i had gone to russia with a church group in 1991. >> it's beyond naive, it's almost pathetic. almost pathetic. >> there are transcripts that provide very helpful, very critical insights into whether or not russian intelligence were colluding with the trump campaign. >> do such transcripts exist? >> i have not seen them, i believe they exist. >> wow, that's news. >> we're not even six we

resignation of jeff sessions. how will donald trump respond and the 111th hour begins now. >> good evening, once again from our headquarters in new york. same studio. in fact, day number 40 of the trump presidency began with the white house trying to keep the focus on the president's agenda laid out in his joint session to congress last night. and for 22 hours after the speech, that narrative held. about the president's solid reviews about his speech that is, until two stories re-ignited questions about the trump white house and russia. as we've covered these last two hours, the new york times was the first to publish tonight with the headline "obama administration pushed to preserve intelligence of russia election hacking." quoting in the story. in the obama administration's last days some white house officials scrambled to express information to undermine the presidential election and about possible contacts between soeshlgtsz of. are don't jvrmt trump and the russians. they had two aims. to make sure it isn't duplicated necessity lexes and to leave a clear trail of intelligence

>>> tonight, several breaking stories. president trump's attorney general, jeff sessions under fire. recusing himself from any investigations linked to the trump campaign, denying reports he lied at his senate confirmation hearing about having contact with the russian ambassador twice before the election. tonight, explaining his two meetings with the russian ambassador. >>> the fighter jets buzzing the american destroyer. uss porter. what the pentagon is saying. >>> the deadly chase. the disturbing video now emerging. the teen pulled from his pickup truck, deputies tasing him, and the deputy with his knee on the young man's neck. why did they meet before cpr? he did not survive. >>> the damaging winds, and ice-covered highways. the blast of cold now moving in. >>> and video from inside this home and the warning tonight for families across the country when you put your house on the market. >>> good evening, and it's great to have you with us here on a thursday night, and we begin with the major headline from washington tonight. president trump's attorney general, jeff sessions, revea

>>> breaking news, attorney general jeff sessions speaks out. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. sessions saying he doesn't believe anything he said was improper or unwise. in the wake of his announcement he will recuse himself from any investigation related to the trump campaign. president trump defending sessions tonight and charging that democrats are quote, overplaying their hand. listen to this moment from the attorney general's interview with fox tonight. >> i don't believe there's anything wrong with united states senator meeting with ambassador from russia. >> right. >> i see you're asking questions about it, that's fine. but i think it was a perfectly reasonable meeting. i had professional nonpolitical staffers with me. and we discussed some important international issues. i learned something perhaps in that meeting. i usually did. so that's the -- what happened. people were -- ambassadors were coming by to see me pretty often. >> here with more on the sessions firestorm and what it means for trump administration is senior white house correspondent sara murray. >> tonig

jeff sessions reported contact last year with russia's ambassador to the united states. top republicans are responding to calls for sessions to recuse himself from the justice department's on going investigation of russian meddling in the election as democrats now are calling for the new ag to resign. >> i think he answered that question this morning, which is, if he himself is a subject of an investigation, of course he would. but if he's not, i don't see any purpose or reason for doing this. >> because the department of justice should be above reproach for the good of the country, attorney general sessions should resign. >> dana: we're following all the developments, special report reporter is standing by with in depth analysis. we begin wiin washington. have we learned any more to substantiate reports that there was con tack between the trump team and russia? >> reporter: the leader of the house intelligence committee addressed calls for attorney general sessions to recuse himself. >> it's a slippery slope. all the countries in the world basically have embassies here. all

>>> president trump standing by his attorney general. it came hours after jeff sessions said he'd recuse himself from matters regarding the 2016 election. will this be enough to quiet critics who say sessions lied about meeting the russian ambassador? good morning, thanks for getting an early start with us. i've david briggs. >> i'm christine romans. it is friday. i like to say that twice, it is friday. march 3rd, it is 4:00 a.m. in the east. let's continue with that breaking story overnight. president trump stepping forward with a powerful defense of attorney general jeff sessions just hours after sessions recused himself from any investigations into mr. trump's presidential campaign. the move comes amid growing calls by democrats, for the attorney general to resign on revelations sessions met with the russian ambassador at the same time he was serving as a trump campaign surrogate. and he didn't disclose that at his senate hearing. sessions recusing himself at a news conference, this news conference just two hours after the president said he should not do so. sessions denied any

saying that jeff sessions needs to resign, that he lied under oath and she said he is unqualified and unfit. good morning, everyone. i'm chris jansing at our msnbc headquarters in new york. and attorney general jeff sessions right now facing a wave of new calls to resign. did he commit perjury? key question there. all this after that the bombshell revelation by the waupt th "washington post" that he met with russia's ambassador during the presidential campaign not once by twice. something he did not disclose during this exchange with democratic senator al franken. >> if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do? >> senator franken, i'm not aware of any of those activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and i did not have communications with the russians. >> a sessions spokeswoman confirmed he had those conversations but said it was in the role as the committee for armed services. >> that's remarks are unbelievable to me and facts. i do

story that was unfolding during our show yesterday morning. attorney general jeff sessions recusing himself from investigations into russia's meddling into the 2016 elections. of course, that doesn't end the story. there still a lot of questions to be answered. did attorney general sessions change his story? what did the white house know and when did it know it? who exactly is the russian ambassador at the center of this kris? is he a diplomat? or as many people are saying in washington, d.c. today, a spy? are the democrats holding the administration accountable or are they, once again, overplaying their hand. ? we have another big lineup this morning including the top house democrat on the intelligence committee, congressman adam schiff. also a member of the senate intelligence committee senator angus king and member of the richard blumenthal and ambassador mike mcfaul. mika is down with the weather this morning. we have willie geist and john heilemann and nick confessore and ai ari melber and kasie hun. yesterday morning i got the sense we were going to be spending the next few da

the attorney general of the united states, jeff sessions, should recuse himself to ensure public confidence in the justice department's investigation. he should also clarify his statements to the judiciary committee with respect to his communications with the russian ambassador. there are important developments that we're following right now. breaking news. a new russia headache for the trump administration. the attorney general is facing growing calls from republicans to recuse himself from the russian investigation and calls from democrats for him to resign. jeff sessions is under fire over his own contacts with russia. he met twice last year with the top russian diplomat here in the united states but he did not mention those meetings during his confirmation hearing. he testified that he knew of no contacts between trump surrogates and russia. today sessions denied he did anything wrong. >> i have not met with any russians at any time to discuss any political campaign and those remarks are unbelievable to me, and all false and i don't have anything else to say about that. >> th

friend of jeff sessions had this to say about tonight's news. >> if there is something there and it goes up the chain of investigation, it is clear to me that jeff sessions, who is my dear friend, cannot make this decision about trump. so there may be nothing there but if there is something there, the fbi believes is criminal in name, then for sure, you need a special prosecutor. >> for those following at home we have two newspaper articles dropping tonight on the same subgrew up in this one story. meanwhile, the top democrat on the house intelligence committee, congressman adam schiff of k5e68, said in a statement of his observe: "if reports are accurate, it is essential that he recuse himself -- "talking about sessions. "from any role. this is not even a close call. it is a must. at long last. this brings us to our panel tonight. katy turr who has covered donald trump from the start of the campaign, political senior foreign affairs correspondent michael crowley. we had to move a large population of people and bring in another population. there was far tomuch noise and confusion at

trump's campaign advisors and the russian ambassador to the u.s. >> attorney general jeff sessions will not be investigating any of those allegations. he recused himself thursday, acknowledging he met with the russian envoy twice last year. sessions failed to disclose those meetings during his senate confirmation hearings. a growing number of democrats in congress say sessions didn't go far enough. they want him to resign. >> president trump is standing by his attorney general, calling the controversy a witch hunt. he released a statement on thursday saying, jeff sessions is an honest man. he did not say anything wrong. he could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not intentional. this whole narrative is a way of saving face for democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed to win. democrats are overplaying their hand, they lost the election, and now they have lost their grip on reality. >> meantime, the senior trump administration officials says the president's son-in-law jared kushner and former national security advisor michael flynn a

president's joint address before congress. also new word today that attorney general jeff sessions will submit amended testimony to the senate by monday about his encounters with russia's ambassador to the u.s. while sessions was a surrogate to the trump campaign. will he have to testify again before the senate judiciary committee? >>> and president trump goes on the office saying this picture of nancy pelosi with russians, including the ambassador. is it relevant? the latest controversy. >> no, there's no comparison whatsoever. between hillary clinton's practice having a private server, mishandling classified information, destroying e-mails. >> vice president pence pushing back about his use of private aol e-mail conducting state business while governor of inn. what he delivered in his defense. >>> and it has to be the picture of the day. a still photo of hillary clinton on a plane with a newspaper. this obviously not that image that we're talking about, but ironic and you'll see that headline on the newspaper coming up here. why people are so interested in it. >>> we want to begin wit

? his testimony raising big questions. now some top democrats are calling for jeff sessions to step down. no surprise. they found an opening they think. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. the goodwill just lasted less than 24 hours. now some big questions for president trump. here's what is not in question this morning. attorney general jeff sessions met with russian ambassador to the u.s. twice last year. the question is did he in capacity of the donald trump campaign surrogate or as a member of the armed services committee. now facing acquisitions of misleading congress for making a devastating blow to the attorney general. the justice department confirming that twice last year, sessions met with the top russian diplomat in washington. once at the republican convention in july and the second time in september in the sessions' senate office. sessions a surrogate at the time of the meetings for the trump campaign with russian ambassador sergei kislyak. he is considered to be one of russia's top spies and not simply a diplomat. listen to

after admitting the meeting russians during the campaign. jeff sessions has just during the campaign. jeff sessions hasjust said he during the campaign. jeff sessions has just said he will recuse himself any investigation into alleged russian interference in the election. democrats want him to resign saying he misled the public. marine one touching down on the navy's newest aircraft carrier, and the president feeling the full downdraught of the latest setback to buffet his administration. his attorney general, jeff sessions, facing charges that he lied under oath during his confirmation hearings over his contacts with the russians. but the president is standing by him. reporter: mr president, do you still have confidence in the attorney general? total. when were you aware that he spoke to the russian ambassador? i wasn't aware at all. what's emerged is that then—senator sessions met the russian ambassador at the republican convention injuly. he met him again in september. but at his confirmation hearing this january, he denied any contact with the russians. if there is any evidence

post" reporter last night is jeff sessions, first attorney general to come from middle earth, met with russian officials during the campaign with which, people, is not a crime. everyone meets with russians. i don't know what the issue is. >> the issue, at this point, really seems like one of transparency. he didn't disclose the fact he had those conversations when directly asked about it at his oven medication hearings earlier this year. >> if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do? >> senator franken, i'm not aware of any of those activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and i did not have communications with the russians. ( audience reacts ) >> trevor: i can't believe jeff sessions lied to america. ( laughter ) especially after this country spent so many years buying his cookies. ( laughter ) what makes it worse is that he lied under oath while interviewing to be the guy who prosecute people for lying under oath. it sort of makes

democratic onslaught over attorney general jeff sessions continues. our own blake burman has been watching the action. he joins us live from the white house. hi, blake.ç reporter: these student will probably learn about twitter if they haven't already in the coming years as president trump fired up another tweet. he called for investigation of the two top democrats here on capitol hill. let me show you the tweet he just sent out moments ago. it reads as follows. i hereby demand a second investigation after schumer of pelosi for her close ties to russia and lying about it. at issue here is the picture that you see on that tweet, which shows nancy pelosi, the house minority leader, sitting across the table from a russian group. among them sergey kislyak, the russian ambassador. earlier today nancy pelosi said never she had a meeting with kislyak. that picture shows otherwise. and that is why you have the president tweeting out what he did this afternoon. by the way, pelosi's people say what she really meant was that she had never met with kislyak one-on-one. it started though earlier today

general jeff sessions recusing himself from overseeing investigations into the trump campaign and russia. this is a big deal, we've been following this for a long time, we've been following this intense attention when the attorney general recused himself it felt like one of those moments that was like exactly halfway between oh my god i can't believe that happened and oh my god i can't believe it took this long far to happen. that happened. we'll have more on that story ahead including the super serious allegations against the fbi in this matter. attorney general jeff sessions says as of today he's getting out of the way but all this time thus thus far, has he been in the way of those investigations already? has attorney general jeff sessions been investigating the fbi's investigations thus far? specifically has he been telling the fbi to not share information about what they found with congressional investigators? because tonight one prominent congressional investigator says the fbi is actually blocking the trump/russia investigation from moving forward. did jeff sessions instruc

did he want? right now president trump on the attack, going after democrats who want jeff sessions to resign, ahead of a trip to florida where he'll visit a private school this afternoon to promote school choice. the president is slamming democrats who want attorney general jeff sessions to resign overs legal and political questions piling up over his meetings with russia's ambassador. democrats say recusing himself is not enough. and the president in a statement calls it all, quote, a total witch hunt. russia's foreign minister, sergey lavrov said the same thing last night. >> do you see this as a witch hunt? >> i don't think what was said about that meeting i had with the russian ambassador was legitimate. i think it was hyped beyond reason and i think it was unfair. i was glad to be able to address it today. >> this morning vice president mike pence is also facing fire. he right now heading to wisconsin for a meeting with business leaders. of course he was a fierce critic of hillary clinton for her e-mails. now "the indianapolis star" reports that he used a private e-mail to conduc

with attorney general jeff sessions recusing himself from any russia or campaign related probes. this as he's facing a storm of criticism from democrats who claim he lied about his contacts with russia's ambassador during his confirmation hearing. sessions denies any wrongdoing and is slamming his critics. >> i think it was hyped beyond reason and i think it was unfair. i don't believe anybody that was in that meeting would have seen or believed i said one thing that was improper or unwise, and it was really a sad thing to be attacked like that, but i think we've explained it and we intend to move forward. >> sandra: president trump is also backing sessions saying he has total confidence in his attorney general and then tweeted "jeff sessions is an honest man. he did not say anything wrong. he could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not intentional. this whole narrative is a way of saving face for democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed to win. the democrats are overplaying their hand. they lost the election, and now they have l

. >> good morning and welcome to your new day. president trump standing by jeff session. attorney general fighting back against perjury allegations and recusing himself from investigations into russia but he is still under fire for his failure to inform congress about two meetings with the russian ambassador. >> more information has come out about staffers and meeting with a russian official. >> there's no question they see it as a threat and are calling for sessions to re-sign but you also have republican lawmakers calling for sessions recusal and saying a special prosecutor may be peshl. this russia connection is looming over day 43 of donald trump's presidency. let's begin our coverage with sarah murray live at the white house. >> jeff sessions may have recused himself from probes into the trump campaign but questions about ties between the president and russian officials do not end there. now we're learning it wasn't just meetings between jeff sessions and the russian ambassador or meetings with michael flynn and the russian ambassador but jared kushner now a senior adviser in the whi

this friday. jeff sessions has made his decision and the president is responding. the a.g. recuseing himself from any russian investigation and the president saying it's nothing more than a witch hunt. where to now? good morning, i'm bill hemmer, welcome to "america's newsroom." we've almost made it. >> shannon: it is friday. two hours to go still. i'm shannon bream in for martha maccallum. president trump defending his emotion battered attorney general. in an interview last night sessions explained his decision to step back. >> the reason i believe i should recuse myself is because i was involved in the campaign to a degree i think it would have been perceived is that i wouldn't be objective in participating in an investigation that might involve the campaign. i do not confirm or deny any investigation. i just felt like i should clear the air. >> shannon: john roberts is live on the north hall. how is this story affecting the white house this morning? >> the white house was worried this was becoming the big story, the big narrative feeding into this idea there was more to

, jeff sessions, has agreed to recuse himself from the investigations, but now there are new questions about other members of the president's inner circle. our senior white house correspondent, jeff zeleny is joining us. jeff is at the house. our justice department laura jarrett is with me in the studio. jeff, the president is in florida but he can't escape this entire russia controversy, can he? >> he cannot, wolf. he was leaving the white house this morning, right before he did there was an animated meeting going on inside the oval office. this is coming at the end of a week where the administration with you hoping to still be talking about his speech to congress earlier in the week. instead ending it of trying to get to these meetings that happened last year during the campaign with the russian ambassador. of course they're trying to contain the fallout from all of this here, particularly with the attorney general's recruisal yesterday of any investigation involving the 2016 campaign. but, this is something that administration officials are still trying to contain and figure out how

colluded in any way with the russians before the election. attorney general jeff sessions announced the decision to recuse himself two hours ago in a news conference after growing bipartisan calls for that very move. more than 100 democrats are going further, demanding sessions resign after they say he lied under oath about meetings with russia's ambassador during his confirmation hearing. something sessions vigorously denies. where it is a go from here? chief white house correspondent john roberts begins our coverage tonight from the north lawn. good evening. another political brush fire that the white house off message, overshadowing what was supposed to be a showcase speech for the president onboard the uss gerald ford. jeff sessions moved to take himself off the front page just as quickly as he could. >> i have recuse myself in the matters that deal with the trump campaign. >> the attorney general said his possible recusal from an investigation regarding the trump campaign was already in the works, that a meeting had been scheduled for today to make the decision. >> my staff recomme

jeff sessions said he would recuse himself from matters regarding the election. will this be enough to quiet critics who say sessions lied about meeting the russian ambassador? cnn's covere of all the developments from washington continue right now bright and early this friday morning. good morning and welcome to "early start." >> i'm christine romans. >> and i'm dave briggs. >> did you talk to the russians last year? >> i did not. >> i cannot deny or confirm anything. donald trump stepping forward with a defense of jeff sessions hours after he recused himself from any investigations into the trump campaign. there's a growing call from democrats that sessions resign that he met with the russian ambassador during the campaign. sessions denied any wrongdoing saying that he told senators he never spoke with russian officials about the trump campaign. >> i was taken aback a little bit about this brand new information, that allegation that surrogates and i had been called a surrogate for donald trump had been meeting continuously with russian officials and that's what struck me there and

the issue. that was jeff sessions in january speaking do. this is the issue. that was jeff sessions injanuary speaking under oath at a senate hearing. sessions injanuary speaking under oath at a senate hearingli sessions injanuary speaking under oath at a senate hearing. i did not have communications with the russians. the problem is, he had met the russian ambassador twice. mr sessions is about to hold a press conference in washington, dc. the moment it begins at the department ofjustice you'll see it here live an outside source. we report from brussels as $200 million is raised forfamily brussels as $200 million is raised for family planning schemes brussels as $200 million is raised forfamily planning schemes in developing countries to counter cuts introduced by donald trump. marine le pen could face charges relating to treating graphic images of islamic state atrocities. emmanuel macron has launched his manifesto and francois fillon has had more bad news today, a property of his raided by police. we'll have the latest on the french presidential election. if you bought shares in the compan

he answer a series of questions about ag jeff sessions. "the washington post" reporting, sessions met with russian envoy twice last year in encounters did not disclose. this morni sessionses insides there's no there there. >> i have not met with any russians at any time to discuss any political campaign and those remarks are unbelievable to me and false. >> so, what comes next for sessions? if you're a democrat, it's recuse or resign. if you're a republican, well, it's more complicated. >> if he himself is a subject of investigation, of course he would, but if he's not, i don't see any purpose or reason to do this. >> i do think he needs to clarify. i think he should recuse himself, absolutely. >> should he recuse himself? >> no. >> if there is an investigation, probably shouldn't be involved in it. >> the american people served him. >> could jeff have been more clear in what he said? yes. the underlying meeting is a nothing burger. >> nbc's hallie jackson is at the white house, msnbc's kasie hunt is on capitol hill, hans nichols is with president trump in newport news, virginia, and

michael flynn also met with the russian ambassador at trump tower back in december. >> jeff sessions will not be investigating any of the ties to russia. he recused himself on thursday after disclosing his own meetings with the ambassador last year. ? president trump is defending sessions saying he did not say anything wrong. he could have stated his response more accurately, u but it was not intentionally. >> the democrats lost the election and now they have lost their grip on reality. here's what sessions had to say. >> i never had any conversations about -- with the russians about this campaign and putting them assisting in the campaign or anything like that. >> well, for more on sessions' decision to recuse himself, here's pamela brown. >> i have recused myself in the matters that deal with the trump campaign. >> reporter: just three weeks into his job as the nation's top cop, attorney general jeff sessions announcing he is taking himself off of any investigations regarding russia after revelations that he failed to disclose two meetings he had with russia's ambassador to the u.s. a m

more than jeff sessions and michael flynn who met with this ambassador. >> i'm not going to deny i talked to him. >> we need the fbi to fully cooperate. at this point the director was not willing to do that. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning. welcome no your "new day." president trump blasting democrats for what he calls a witch hunt. jeff sessions recusing himself from investigations involving russia and the trump campaign. sessions is under fire. why? he failed to disclose that he met twice with the russian ambassador during the 2016 race. >> lawmakers from both parties are battling over what's next for sessions as we learn more about who in the trump campaign met with that very same diplomat. the shadow of russia looms over the trump administration on day 43 of his presidency. let's begin our coverage with cnn's sarah murray live at the white house. good morning, sarah. >> good morning, alisyn. jeff sessions may be recusing himself but that doesn't answer all the questions about ties with this president and his advisers and russian offici

, attorney general jeff sessions under fire over reports he had contacts with russian officials on two occasions during the 2016 presidential campaign. there's growing call from both the democrats and the republicans for sessions to recuse himself from the russia probe. should he do it? attorney general sessions, he's still maintaining his innocence. he says and i quote -- for the very latest, go to our own blake burman live at the white house. hey, blake. >> reporter: hey, trish, the important part of that quote that you read was about the campaign. here at the white house, they are pushing back by saying then-senator jeff sessions was able to talk to ambassadors, in this case, ambassador, an ambassador of any country under his duties as a member of the senate. however, the other part here and which is a problem for sessions is the testimony he gave during his confirmation hearing which he said and i am quoting, i did not have communications with the russians. to that end, many republicans are calling -- republicans keep in mind are calling for the attorney general, should he be o