--- title: Jeff Sessions Russia: Read Attorney General Announce Recusal description: Attorney General Jeff Sessionssaid he will recuse himself from investigations into Russia's involvement in the election canonical: https://time.com/4689345/jeff-sessions-russia-press-conference-transcript/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-02T22:03:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:46:26.770Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Jeff Sessions' Comments Recusing Himself From Trump Campaign Investigations og:description: The Attorney General said he will recuse himself from investigations into Russia's involvement in the election og:url: https://time.com/4689345/jeff-sessions-russia-press-conference-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3e95e26d084d63b/6988bcd20b72e3854e6ecd62/jeff-sessions-attorney-general-russia-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Donald Trump Attorney General Jeff Sessions og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Jeff Sessions' Comments Recusing Himself From Trump Campaign Investigations twitter:description: The Attorney General said he will recuse himself from investigations into Russia's involvement in the election twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3e95e26d084d63b/6988bcd20b72e3854e6ecd62/jeff-sessions-attorney-general-russia-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Jeff Sessions' Comments Recusing Himself From Trump Campaign Investigations by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Mar 2, 2017 10:03 PM UTC  Attorney General Jeff Sessions listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing in ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 8, 2017. Attorney General Jeff Sessions listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing in ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 8, 2017.Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Mar 2, 2017 10:03 PM UTC Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Thursday [he will recuse himself](http://time.com/4689492/jeff-sessions-russia-recuse/) from any existing or future investigations related to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. His comments came at a press conference addressing the [controversy](http://time.com/4688982/jeff-sessions-russia-contact-campaign/) that erupted this week after the Washington _Post_ [reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f%5Fstory.html?amp;utm%5Fterm=.19d6ad32ae65&hpid=hp%5Frhp-top-table-main%5Fno-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm%5Fterm=.d0cf848bceb0) that Sessions met with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. last year but did not disclose the encounters during his Senate [confirmation hearing](http://time.com/4688494/jeff-sessions-russia-confirmation/). Lawmakers from both parties criticized Sessions, and many called for him to [recuse himself](http://time.com/4688406/jeff-sessions-chuck-schumer-nancy-pelosi-resign/?xid=time%5Fsocialflow%5Ftwitter) from investigations into Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election. Some went further, with top Democrats saying [Sessions should resign](http://time.com/4688760/jeff-sessions-russia-resign-chuck-schumer-transcript/) from his post as the country’s top law enforcement official. However, President Donald Trump said Thursday he did not think Sessions needed to recuse himself from any investigations and added he retains “total” confidence in the attorney general, according to the [Associated Press](http://time.com/4689161/president-trump-jeff-sessions-total-confidence/?xid=homepage). Sessions said Thursday that his meetings with the Russian ambassador did not have to do with the 2016 presidential campaign, and maintained that he did not lie during his confirmation hearing earlier this year. Read his full comments here: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4689345/jeff-sessions-russia-press-conference-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4689345/jeff-sessions-russia-press-conference-transcript/"},"headline":"Read Jeff Sessions' Comments Recusing Himself From Trump Campaign Investigations","datePublished":"2017-03-02T22:03:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:46:26.770Z","description":"The Attorney General said he will recuse himself from investigations into Russia's involvement in the election","url":"https://time.com/4689345/jeff-sessions-russia-press-conference-transcript/","keywords":["Jeff Sessions","russia","2016 Election topic","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3e95e26d084d63b/6988bcd20b72e3854e6ecd62/jeff-sessions-attorney-general-russia-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3e95e26d084d63b/6988bcd20b72e3854e6ecd62/jeff-sessions-attorney-general-russia-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Donald Trump Attorney General Jeff Sessions","caption":"President Donald Trump Attorney General Jeff Sessions","creditText":"Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/jeff-sessions/","name":"Jeff Sessions"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4689345/jeff-sessions-russia-press-conference-transcript/","name":"Read Jeff Sessions' Comments Recusing Himself From Trump Campaign Investigations"}}]}] ```