Ohio’s congressional delegation split – largely along party lines – on whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions did enough by recusing himself from any investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. elections last fall. WKSU’s M.L. Schultze has more on the reaction to confirmation that Sessions met with the Russian ambassador twice, then told Congress he had not.
Most of the state’s Democrats – including Sen. Sherrod Brown, and Reps. Marcia Fudge, Marcy Kaptur and Tim Ryan, want Sessions to resign. Ryan, whose districts stretches from Youngstown to Akron, said as a member of the Armed Services Committee, Sessions could have defended the meetings in his sworn testimony during his confirmation hearings. But he accused Sessions of lying instead, and said it’s part of a pattern that led to the resignation of national security advisor Michael Flynn.
“And we still don’t know what’s going on with President Trump’s taxes and any relation within his taxes that he may have monetarily with the Russian people. So all of these things put together say, ‘Why does everyone keep lying about this if there’s nothing there?”
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, who had called for Session’s recusal, said the move will “enhance the credibility of the investigation” into Russia’s interference.
Correction: This story originally incorrectly listed the Senate committee on which Jeff Sessions sat.
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