美司法部長塞申斯迴避有關俄羅斯插手選舉的調查
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from any federal investigation of alleged Russian meddling into the 2016 presidential election.
Sessions met with reporters Thursday after The Washington Post reported that as a U.S. Senator and member of the Trump campaign, Sessions held two pre-election meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, but withheld that information during his confirmation hearing.
Questions have hovered whether Sessions talked about the campaign with the ambassador. Some lawmakers from both parties demanded Sessions recuse himself, while some Democrats said he should resign, accusing him of lying under oath.
President Donald Trump, who earlier said he does not think Sessions should recuse himself, called his attorney general "an honest man" who could have stated his response at the hearing more accurately.
Sessions told the reporters Thursday he never had any intention to mislead anyone and that his answers were "honest and correct" as he understood the question at that time.
But he said "in retrospect, I should have slowed down and said, 'But I did meet one Russian official a couple of times. That would be the ambassador.'"
Sessions said Thursday his meetings with Ambassador Kislyak -- first at the Republican National Convention in July and in his Capitol Hill office in September -- were part of his job as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and that "so many" other ambassadors also wanted a meeting.
Sessions said he and Kislyak talked about terrorism and Ukraine, describing the meeting as "testy" at one point when the matter of Russian involvement in Ukraine came up.
Sessions said Thursday that he decided to recuse himself in any investigation into alleged Russian interference in the election upon the recommendation of his staff at the Justice Department. He said no one should see his decision as confirmation that any probe is currently underway.美國司法部長塞申斯表示，將規避美國執法當局就俄羅斯被控插手2016年美國大選一事的調查。
塞申斯星期四召開了記者會。之前華盛頓郵報報道說，他作爲參議員和川普競選團隊成員曾在大選前與俄羅斯駐美大使兩次會晤，但是在參議院確認提名的聽證會上，他沒有提供這些信息。
有關塞申斯是否與俄羅斯大使談及競選引發疑問。兩黨議員都有人要求塞申斯規避有關調查，還有一些民主黨人指責他說謊，應該辭職。
川普總統之前曾表示，他認爲塞申斯不必規避，如今卻表示，他的司法部長是“一個誠實的人”，只是在聽證會上本可以做出更準確的回答。
塞申斯星期四對記者說，他從來沒有打算誤導任何人的，他的答案是按照他當時的理解做出的“誠實和正確”的回答。
不過塞申斯表示，“回想起來，我當時應該放慢速度，應該說-‘我確實兩次會晤了一名俄羅斯官員，那就是大使。”
塞申斯星期四說，他與俄羅斯大使的會晤，包括第一次去年7月在共和國全國代表大會期間和第二次9月在他國會山的辦公室，都是他作爲參議院軍事委員會成員工作的一部分。他說，有“很多”其它國家的大使也想會面。
塞申斯說，他和俄羅斯大使談到了恐怖主義和烏克蘭問題，並表示，在談到俄羅斯涉及烏克蘭的問題時出現了“情緒激動”的時刻。
塞申斯星期四說，他在聽取了司法部工作人員的建議後，決定規避任何有關俄羅斯插手大選的調查，並表示，他的這個決定並不能說明有任何調查正在進行中。
