Senate Judiciary Committee member Richard Blumenthal has vowed in a tweet to do everything he can to make sure an independent special prosecutor is appointed to probe if anyone connected to President Donald Trump had ties to Russian officials interfering in the U.S. elections.
The Democratic senator from Connecticut also lashed out in another tweet at the president for trying to distract attention from the issue at hand.
In an earlier tweet, the senator insisted a special prosecutor is a necessity.
The Hill reports that Blumenthal is concentrating on the nominee for deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, because Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced last week that he would recuse himself from any probes into Russia's connection to Trump’s campaign.
That announcement came when reports surfaced that Sessions had spoken with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential campaign after he previously testified that he had no interactions with Russian officials during that time period.
This means that others within the Department of Justice, perhaps including Rosenstein, would lead the investigation.
Rosenstein's nomination hearing is scheduled for Tuesday morning, and he is expected to be grilled by the Democrats on the committee about how he would handle any such investigations.
Rosenthal has demanded that Session explain why he didn't give accurate testimony about meeting with Kislyak.
The senator told PBS that Sessions "should be brought back to the Judiciary Committee and give an explanation as to why he omitted and denied key relevant facts in the course of our hearing on his nomination."
Rosenthal added that "If he fails to provide a credible explanation, he should resign."