Photo credit: Eli Alford for the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys(WASHINGTON) —  A growing number of Republican leaders are calling for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from Justice Department investigations over the alleged links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government on Thursday, after new revelations that Sessions did not disclose his meetings with a Russian ambassador during the election.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Thursday morning that Sessions “needs to clarify what these meetings were and when did he have them.”

“I think the trust of the American people you recuse yourself in these situations,” McCarthy said on MSNBC. “I don’t have all the information in front of me, I don’t want to prejudge, but I just think for any investigation going forward, you want to make sure everybody trusts the investigation.”

McCarthy added that it would “be easier from that standpoint” for Sessions to recuse himself.

House Oversight Committee chair Jason Chaffetz echoed McCarthy this morning on Twitter.

AG Sessions should clarify his testimony and recuse himself

— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) March 2, 2017

House Speaker Paul Ryan agreed that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should recuse himself from Justice Department investigations over the alleged links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government if he “is the subject of an investigation.”

Sessions met twice with Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., during the 2016 presidential election season, the Department of Justice confirmed Wednesday.

“I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign,” Sessions said in a statement Wednesday night. “I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.”

Sessions told NBC News Thursday that “whenever it’s appropriate I will recuse myself.”

“Should he recuse himself? I think he answered that question this morning, which is, if he himself is the subject of an investigation, of course he would. But if he’s not, I don’t see any purpose or reason to doing this,” Ryan said Thursday in his weekly news conference on Capitol Hill.

When asked if Sessions misled the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing about his contact with Russia, Ryan said, “I’ll refer to the Senate Judiciary Committee.”

Ryan also argued that it’s common for congressional members to meet with ambassadors.

During his confirmation hearing in January, Sessions was asked by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., what he would do if there was evidence that the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government.

“I’m not aware of any of those activities. 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 replied.

Sessions, however, held a meeting in his Senate office with Kislyak in September. The meeting was listed on his public schedule.

According to The Washington Post, Sessions also encountered Kislyak at a Heritage Foundation event in July, which a Justice Department official described as a “brief encounter.”

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