New polling shows Americans want answers on Russia
While the White House calls it a distraction.
The White House has called allegations that members of Trump’s team colluded with the Russian government a distraction from issues Americans really care about.
But recent polling shows that the majority of Americans want Congress to investigate contact between President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russian government. A NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released last week shows that 53 percent of Americans want Congress to look into those communications. Only 25 percent of Americans disagree, and 21 percent said they don’t have an opinion.
In a statement to Fox News on Thursday, a White House official said Democrats’ calls for Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ resignation were a partisan attack to distract from the positive press coverage of Trump’s address to Congress earlier in the week.
“This is the latest attack against the Trump administration by partisan Democrats. [Attorney General] Sessions met with the ambassador in an official capacity as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is entirely consistent with his testimony.”
On Wednesday, reports emerged that Sessions spoke with Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak during the presidential campaign — which Sessions denied during his confirmation hearing. Early Thursday, as news continued to unfold about Sessions’ communication with Kislyak, President Trump tweeted about the stock market.
In addition to wanting an investigation of contact between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, Americans are also more concerned about Russia being a potential threat to the United States and Russia’s popularity has fallen to Cold War-era levels. A January Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll found that 82 percent of Americans described Russia as a “threat” to the United States, up from 76 percent in March of 2015. Americans were more likely to consider Russia a threat than Iran, Syria, Cuba, or Yemen, with only North Korea ranking higher. Twenty-five percent of Americans said Russia was an “imminent threat,” the highest rating of concern.
A Chicago Council on Global Affairs poll released in December of last year found that Americans gave an average rating of 32 when asked to rate their feelings about Russia from 0 to 100. It is the lowest score since 1986, when Americans gave Russia a rating of 31.
During Sessions’ confirmation hearing, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) asked Sessions whether he communicated with the Russians, and Sessions lied under oath.
“I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and I did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it,” Sessions answered.
There are three ongoing investigations into Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election and contact between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, by the House Intelligence Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee, and the Department of Justice. But lawmakers investigating these ties are working with the White House to counter negative news stories, according to reporting from Axios and The Washington Post.
Fifty-seven Congressional Democrats have said Sessions should resign from office, including House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Although Republicans have called for Sessions to recuse himself, Pelosi said a recusal is not enough.
“Anything less than resignation or removal from office is unacceptable,” Pelosi tweeted Thursday morning.
After The Washington Post reported that Sessions met with the Russian ambassador, his spokeswoman confirmed that he met with him before the election. In an interview with NBC News, Sessions said, “I have not met with any Russians at any time to discuss any political campaign” and said he would recuse himself from an investigation into contact between Trump surrogates and the Russian government “whenever it’s appropriate.” Sessions was a Trump surrogate during the 2016 presidential race.