美司法部长塞申斯回避有关俄罗斯插手选举的调查

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from any federal investigation of alleged Russian meddling into the 2016 presidential election.

Sessions met with reporters Thursday after The Washington Post reported that as a U.S. Senator and member of the Trump campaign, Sessions held two pre-election meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, but withheld that information during his confirmation hearing.

Questions have hovered whether Sessions talked about the campaign with the ambassador. Some lawmakers from both parties demanded Sessions recuse himself, while some Democrats said he should resign, accusing him of lying under oath.

President Donald Trump, who earlier said he does not think Sessions should recuse himself, called his attorney general "an honest man" who could have stated his response at the hearing more accurately.

Sessions told the reporters Thursday he never had any intention to mislead anyone and that his answers were "honest and correct" as he understood the question at that time.

But he said "in retrospect, I should have slowed down and said, \'But I did meet one Russian official a couple of times. That would be the ambassador.\'"

Sessions said Thursday his meetings with Ambassador Kislyak -- first at the Republican National Convention in July and in his Capitol Hill office in September -- were part of his job as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and that "so many" other ambassadors also wanted a meeting.

Sessions said he and Kislyak talked about terrorism and Ukraine, describing the meeting as "testy" at one point when the matter of Russian involvement in Ukraine came up.

Sessions said Thursday that he decided to recuse himself in any investigation into alleged Russian interference in the election upon the recommendation of his staff at the Justice Department. He said no one should see his decision as confirmation that any probe is currently underway.

塞申斯星期四召开了记者会。之前华盛顿邮报报道说，他作为参议员和川普竞选团队成员曾在大选前与俄罗斯驻美大使两次会晤，但是在参议院确认提名的听证会上，他没有提供这些信息。

有关塞申斯是否与俄罗斯大使谈及竞选引发疑问。两党议员都有人要求塞申斯规避有关调查，还有一些民主党人指责他说谎，应该辞职。

川普总统之前曾表示，他认为塞申斯不必规避，如今却表示，他的司法部长是“一个诚实的人”，只是在听证会上本可以做出更准确的回答。

塞申斯星期四对记者说，他从来没有打算误导任何人的，他的答案是按照他当时的理解做出的“诚实和正确”的回答。

不过塞申斯表示，“回想起来，我当时应该放慢速度，应该说-‘我确实两次会晤了一名俄罗斯官员，那就是大使。”

塞申斯星期四说，他与俄罗斯大使的会晤，包括第一次去年7月在共和国全国代表大会期间和第二次9月在他国会山的办公室，都是他作为参议院军事委员会成员工作的一部分。他说，有“很多”其它国家的大使也想会面。

塞申斯说，他和俄罗斯大使谈到了恐怖主义和乌克兰问题，并表示，在谈到俄罗斯涉及乌克兰的问题时出现了“情绪激动”的时刻。

塞申斯星期四说，他在听取了司法部工作人员的建议后，决定规避任何有关俄罗斯插手大选的调查，并表示，他的这个决定并不能说明有任何调查正在进行中。