Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision to step aside from the Justice Department investigation into whether Russia interfered in last year's election has drawn mixed reactions from Ohio's U.S. senators.
Republican Sen. Rob Portman earlier urged Sessions to recuse himself from the probe and said he thinks Sessions "did the right thing."
Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown said recusal wasn't enough and Sessions "must resign his post immediately."
Brown joined a chorus of Senate Democrats in calling for the nation's top law enforcement official to resign after Sessions said he met with a Russian ambassador twice last year.
That appears to conflict testimony during his confirmation hearing, in which Sessions said
"Let me be clear: I never had meetings with Russian operatives or Russian intermediaries about the Trump campaign," Sessions reiterated during a Thursday afternoon news conference in response to reports that he had met twice with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. last year.
During his Senate confirmation hearing, the then-Alabama senator told Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., under oath that he "did not have communications with the Russians."
The meetings, first reported by the Washington Post first and confirmed by NPR's Carrie Johnson, came as Sessions was a top surrogate for President Trump's campaign and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"I should not be involved in investigating a campaign I had a role in," Sessions said.
