Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke privately with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak twice last year, despite questions surrounding the Russian hacking scandal. During his confirmation hearings, the Alabama Republican said in sworn testimony, “I have been called a surrogate [for Donald Trump] at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.”

The ensuing scandal today has been rather fierce, and this afternoon, Sessions agreed to recuse himself from the investigation into the Russia scandal — a step many lawmakers in both parties demanded.