Nancy Pelosi slams Jeff Sessions for 'pathetic' excuse of Russia meetings

Christina Gregg
Updated

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi slammed Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday, saying his excuse for having omitted meetings with the Russian ambassador from his confirmation hearing testimony is "pathetic."

In the wake of Russia's reported involvement in the 2016 presidential election, Sessions recused himself on Thursday from "any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United States," after news broke of two meetings he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Pelosi sat down with POLITICO Live's "Playbook Interview" series on Friday morning, telling Jake Sherman and Amanda Palmer she believes Sessions' recusal is "an admission that something was wrong."

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"Everybody knew that there was something completely out of order that was going on," said Pelosi. "So for him to say 'Well, I was just meeting with him in the normal course of a senator meeting with an ambassador' -- and the Russian ambassador, who everyone knew was hacking our system ... it's beyond naive. It's almost pathetic ... it's almost pathetic."

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Pelosi was among the Democrats who called for Sessions' resignation on Thursday. She was joined by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Elijah Cummings, among others.

Pelosi expanded on the "completely unacceptable" course of actions out of the White House this week, saying the office of the attorney general is meant to serve as a bar standard for lawyers and law enforcement throughout the country.

"If these meetings were innocuous, why did he deny that he had them?," Pelosi asked. "The fact is he's the highest law enforcement officer in the country. He's supposed to tell the truth."

President Trump on Thursday stood by his Cabinet pick, saying he has "total confidence" in the attorney general.

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