The Democrats are calling for Jeff Sessions to resign after it emerged that he met the Russian ambassador before taking office.
The Washington Post originally reported Donald Trump's attorney general had met with Sergey Kislyak twice in 2016, once in the summer and once in September - when US intelligence were examining reports of Russian interference in the election.
Sessions previously told the Senate he'd had no contact with any officials from Russia, but now a spokeswoman has confirmed that the meetings took place.
Sessions released a statement as part of the confirmation, insisting the meetings were not related to the election.
He said: "I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign.
"I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.”
The Democrats House Leader, Nancy Pelosi, accused Sessions of "lying under oath to Congress" and called for his resignation, saying there had to be an "independent, bipartisan, outside commission" to investigate any connections to Russia.
This follows the departure of Trump's national security advisor Michael Flynn, who was fired over his ties to Russia in February.
Follow Us