Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) Thursday blasted Democrats, for an attack directed at Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Democrats spent much of the day calling on Sessions to resign, claiming he lied under oath at his confirmation hearings when he said he did not have contact with the Russians during the campaign. Sessions Thursday said he did meet twice with the Russian ambassador, but maintained the campaign was never discussed. He said his statement during the confirmation hearings was in response to Sen. Al Franken's (D-Minn.) question about a specific report claiming Trump surrogates were regularly in contact with the Russians. Sessions also announced he would recuse himself from any investigation involving the presidential campaign.
Strange issued the following statement in response to the day's events:
“I have not been in Washington very long, but I did not think Democrats could stoop much lower than they did during Jeff Sessions’s confirmation hearing. As we found out today, they can, and the hypocrisy of it is hard to stomach. For eight years, Democrats turned a blind eye to serious breaches of public trust, but they did not miss a beat in trying to undermine President Trump’s administration as it gets to work cleaning up their mess.
Today’s attacks are ugly, and they are entirely baseless. Here are the facts: Jeff Sessions has a proven record as a national security watchdog who is tough on Russia. As every Democrat who is criticizing Jeff Sessions knows, meetings between Senators and foreign ambassadors happen nearly every day – they are part of the job, especially for a senior member of the Armed Services Committee.
I have known Jeff Sessions for years, and I have never met a more honest person or someone more dedicated to doing the right thing. Both in Alabama and in Washington, he has held himself to the highest standard of ethics. I am confident that he will continue to uphold the integrity of his office and the trust of the American people.
I am calling on Congressional Democrats to stop this witch hunt and join Republicans in the business of doing what the American people sent us here for – fixing our economy, securing our border, and strengthening our national security.”