Most Americans Think Jeff Sessions Lied and Should Resign

You may have seen Al Franken “bending over backwards” not to call Jeff Sessions a liar, but still demanding rather insistently that he return to Congress to explain his remarks—or non-remarks—about his communications with the Russian ambassador.

This is as angry as I’ve seen Al Franken get; calls Jeff Sessions’ response letter “insulting” — via @mitchellreportspic.twitter.com/3S8t1mirah

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) March 7, 2017

Now, a new Quinnipiac poll shows that 52 percent of Americans think Sessions did, in fact, lie under oath, and 51 percent think he should resign (compared to 40 percent who think he didn’t lie and 42 percent who think he wouldn’t resign). The poll also found that 54 percent disapproved of how Trump is handling Russia, and 66 percent would support an independent commission to investigate the administration’s ties.

Sessions, while under direct questioning from Franken about what he would do if anyone affiliated with the campaign had communicated with the Russian government, evaded the question, yet managed to claim that he himself had never had such meetings:

“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 didn’t have — did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it.”

As it turned out, he had met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak twice—most recently in September in a one-on-one meeting. Sessions has since tried to argue that since he met with Kislyak as a Senator, and not an official part of the campaign, he was telling the truth.