Updated March 03, 2017 14:11:48

US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions has removed himself from an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, following revelations he twice met with the Russian ambassador and did not say so when pressed by Congress.

The move comes after a growing number of Republicans joined Democratic leaders in calling for Mr Sessions to step aside.

"I have recused myself in the matters that deal with the Trump campaign," Mr Sessions told reporters at a hastily arranged news conference.

Mr Sessions rejected any suggestion that he tried to mislead anyone about his contacts with Russia, saying: "That is not my intent. That is not correct".

The Attorney-General said he made the decision to remove himself from the investigation after his staff recommended that he step aside from any probe related to the Trump campaign, since he had been involved in that campaign.

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Mr Sessions said Deputy Attorney-General Dana Boente would handle such matters.

However, Mr Sessions added that his announcement "should not be interpreted as confirmation of the existence of any investigation".

Earlier, Mr Sessions had denied meeting Russia's US ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, during the presidential campaign, despite the Justice Department saying two meetings took place.

"I have not met with any Russians at any time to discuss any political campaign and those remarks are unbelievable to me and are false," Mr Sessions said earlier.

Democrats conducting 'witch hunt': Trump

Following Mr Sessions news conference, President Donald Trump said his Attorney-General could have been more accurate in what he said about his contacts with Russian officials, but pointed the finger blame at the Democrats for blowing up the controversy for political reasons.

"Jeff Sessions is an honest man. He did not say anything wrong," Mr Trump said in a statement.

"He could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not intentional.

"The Democrats are overplaying their hand ... it is a total witch hunt!"

'Best for the country to recuse himself'

Since news broke of Mr Sessions' contact with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign, congressmen had been pushing for Mr Sessions to recuse himself from the Department of Justice's (DOJ) investigations into Russia.

Republican Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, had maintained that Mr Sessions "should clarify his testimony and recuse himself".

Republican senator Rob Portman echoed that, saying: "I think it would be best for him and for the country to recuse himself from the DOJ [Department of Justice] Russia probe".

However, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said he saw no purpose in Mr Sessions recusing himself unless the Attorney-General himself was the subject of an investigation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters he did not know anything about the meetings last year between ambassador Sergei Kislyak and Mr Sessions.

Mr Peskov argued it was normal for an ambassador to meet with officials and politicians, adding that "the more such meetings an ambassador has, the more efficient his work is".

He described the reaction to the news of Mr Sessions' meetings as "an emotional atmosphere leading to resistance to the idea of any US-Russia dialogue".

"The negative effect for the idea to develop at least some dialogue with Russia is evident," Mr Peskov added.

Democrats demand resignation of Sessions

Top Democrats in Congress demanded the resignation of Mr Sessions, who was a close adviser to Mr Trump during his 2016 election campaign, and the appointment of an independent, impartial special prosecutor with no attachment to the Trump administration to examine the Russian role in the election.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi accused Mr Sessions of lying under oath during his Senate confirmation hearing.

"The law has been broken," she told reporters.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Mr Sessions had misled Congress over his contacts with the ambassador and should resign for the good of the country, adding it would be like "Alice in Wonderland" if the administration was to approve Mr Sessions' investigating himself.

Mr Sessions, a former US senator, received Mr Kislyak in his office in September, the Washington Post reported.

The other encounter was in July at a Heritage Foundation event that was attended by about 50 ambassadors, during the Republican National Convention, the report said.

The Justice Department confirmed the two meetings, saying they were in Mr Sessions' capacity as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and there was nothing untoward about them.

During his confirmation hearing in January, Mr Sessions responded to a question from Democratic senator Al Franken that he did not "have communications with the Russians" during the course of the presidential campaign.

The firebrand from Alabama was one of the main men in President Trump's White House.

Allegations over contacts between Mr Trump's aides and Russia before his inauguration on January 20, and the charge of Russian election interference that the Kremlin has denied, have swirled around since the early days of Mr Trump's presidency.

Mr Trump has accused officials in former Democratic President Barack Obama's administration of trying to discredit him.

US intelligence agencies concluded last year that Russia hacked and leaked Democratic emails during the election campaign as part of an effort to tilt the vote in Mr Trump's favour.

As Attorney-General, Mr Sessions heads the Justice Department. The FBI, part of the department, has been leading investigations into the allegations of the Russian meddling and any links to Mr Trump's associates.

ABC/wires

Topics: donald-trump, us-elections, world-politics, government-and-politics, foreign-affairs, united-states, russian-federation

First posted March 03, 2017 06:16:51