Democrats have stepped up their attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying his explanation regarding his contacts with the Russian ambassador in 2016 were “simply not credible”.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi insists Mr Sessions should step down.
But President Donald Trump said he was “an honest man” and called the Democrat attacks “a total witch hunt”.
Mr Sessions earlier removed himself from an FBI inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the US election.
But he said he did not lie at January’s confirmation hearing, when he said he had “no communications with the Russians”.
He insisted his comments at his confirmation hearing were “honest and correct as I understood it at the time”.
Mr Sessions was speaking after it had emerged that he met Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak twice last year.
Mr Sessions was at the time a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. But he was already a prominent member of Donald Trump’s campaign team.
