Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, the new attorney general of the U.S. was also a key member of the Trump campaign and transition. Because of his very political role, Democratic leaders Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer are keeping pressure on Sessions to recuse himself, something he's so far refusing to do.
Schumer, in a floor statement Thursday following a discussion with reporters Wednesday says that Justice Department guidelines make it clear that Sessions must step back.
"Because the rules are so clear, I expect Attorney General Sessions will recuse himself and make sure that an independent and thorough investigation proceeds," the Senate's top Democrat told reporters. "The American people deserve a full investigation."
Schumer argued that Department of Justice rules block Sessions from being involved in any investigation because guidelines prohibit an employee from taking part in a criminal investigation if they have a "personal or political" relationship with the subject of the investigation.
"Jeff Sessions was chairman of the national security advisory committee, alongside Gen. Michael Flynn. He was a senior adviser in the Trump campaign," Schumer said. "Those facts and the Department of Justices's own rules disqualify Attorney General Sessions from running this investigation."
Pelosi amplified that message, using Sessions own past words against him.
Pelosi noted that Sessions, when he was in the Senate, had posed questions to then-Deputy Attorney General nominee Sally Yates about her capacity to distance herself from President Obama, who appointed her.
"Sen. Sessions asked her, 'Do you think you can be independent of the president who appointed you?'" Pelosi said. "That's an interesting question … for him [because] at this point we don't think he can be."
"His ties to Trump are political," she added. "[Yates] didn't have those ties to President Obama. So he shouldn't be appointing any special prosecutor."
He shouldn't be conducting any investigations or appointing anyone to do the investigations. He shouldn't be attorney general, but that ship sailed along with any principles that the GOP ever had.