Recent allegations suggesting Attorney General Jeff Sessions may have had improper communications with Russian officials could be the catalyst for President Donald Trump’s impeachment. That was the main take-home thought from recent comments made by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) in an interview with MSNBC .
On Thursday, the plot continued thickening in the White House, as Jeff Sessions became the second Trump official to be accused of speaking to Sergei Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States. According to a report from TIME , Sessions recused himself on Thursday evening from investigations into Russia’s alleged involvement in the 2016 U.S. elections, but is currently facing numerous calls that he follow the lead of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and resign from his post.
“I should have slowed down and said, ‘But I did meet one Russian official a couple of times,’” Sessions said, without admitting that he had tried to mislead people.
Aside from the calls for Sessions’ resignation, calls for Donald Trump’s impeachment had heated up once again. Earlier that day, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) spoke with MSNBC to discuss the Sessions issue, and she also took the chance to state the importance of making a concerted effort to investigate into the Trump administration’s purported improprieties in their dealings with Russia.
In a partial transcript of the interview published by conservative news site Breitbart News , Maxine Waters said that it’s “very clear” Jeff Sessions had perjured himself by knowingly refusing to disclose conversations he supposedly had with Kremlin officials, or qualify those meetings and identify himself as someone working for the Trump campaign. She said that the best thing for Sessions to do would be to recuse himself, which he had already done later that Thursday. Yet, it may also be appropriate if he, like Michael Flynn before him, resign from the Trump cabinet, Waters added.
“I think it has already been demonstrated that he is too close to the president,” said Waters. “He was one of the early supporters of the president. And I think he supports lifting the sanctions (against Russia imposed by the Obama administration).”
Waters also stressed that apart from the previous controversies involving Flynn and Russian government officials and allegations that Trump cabinet members are “connected to oil and gas” in Russia, she sees Sessions as being incapable of making unbiased statements with regards to the current hot-button issues plaguing the administration.
“I think that Jeff Sessions cannot be impartial. I think he needs to get out of the way. And I think we even have some Republicans that are saying that now, that he cannot be impartial. So I think he should resign. That’s what think.”
According to Waters, it’s important that Democrats work together and “drill down” when it comes to proving the purported links the Trump administration has with Russia. She believes that “credible investigations” and following the proverbial money trail could be what is needed to get Trump impeached at some point in the future.
“We’ve got to connect the dots. And we’ve got to follow the money. Remember, I’ve been saying this for a long time and even though some people didn’t like it, I said that I believe that if we do the work, it will lead to impeachment of the president. And I still mean that.”
I’m a GOP Senator & while *decades* of demonstrable bigotry from Jeff Sessions was OK, this alleged Russia stuff is annoying or something.
— rob delaney (@robdelaney) March 3, 2017
YAAAS! WE’RE 1 STEP CLOSER TO TRUMP’S IMPEACHMENT! Jeff Sessions recused himself from ANY investigation of Russian meddling in the election!
— #RemoveTrump (@Blue______Wave) March 2, 2017
This isn’t the first time that Maxine Waters has spoken in favor of Donald Trump’s impeachment, as the topic continues to polarize pundits. In February, the Inquisitr reported that the California congresswoman had made similar comments about needing to “dig deeper” and investigate into the alleged Trump administration/Russia ties, as well as accusations that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had colluded during the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.
However, not everyone believes that the new Jeff Sessions controversy and his subsequent recusal means a greater likelihood that Donald Trump will be impeached. In a report from CBC , Gary Nordlinger of the Graduate School of Political Management said that Sessions’ recusal may be what is needed to “calm the (impeachment) predators down” and take some political pressure off the President, at least for the immediate time being.
[Featured Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
