Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois slammed Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday night, arguing his recusal from Trump campaign investigations is not enough, that he should “resign immediately” and suggested that Sessions should go to jail.
Sessions made the recusal announcement less than 24 hours after he confirmed two meetings during the presidential campaign with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, meetings Sessions did not mention after a question at his confirmation hearing about contact between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Sessions said he answered the question honestly and correctly, because the meetings were part of his work on the Senate Armed Services Committee, not as a Trump campaign surrogate.
Missouri Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill, who called for Sessions to resign over the flap, tweeted on Thursday that in her role on the same committee, she never met or had a call with the Russian ambassador. However, older messages from her own Twitter account contradict that, and she later blamed Twitter’s character limit for confusing her point.
Asked on CNN’s “Outfront” if there is any difference between Sessions and McCaskill, Gutierrez told Erin Burnett, “He was under oath, and when you lie under oath, that’s called perjury and you go to jail for doing that.”
“It is clear the recusal is not enough” and “I think Mr. Sessions needs to resign immediately,” Gutierrez said.
He added that “the integrity of the law enforcement and the judicial system is really at stake here” and said he believes that Sessions resigning would be for the good of the country.