Ebenezer’s Warnock calls for Sessions’ resignation

Rev. Raphael G. Warnock speaks during the 48th Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Commemorative Service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Monday, January 18, 2016. The five hour service featured numerous speakers and performances all in memory of Dr. King. JONATHAN PHILLIPS / SPECIAL

Rev. Raphael G. Warnock speaks during the 48th Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Commemorative Service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Monday, January 18, 2016. The five hour service featured numerous speakers and performances all in memory of Dr. King. JONATHAN PHILLIPS / SPECIAL

The Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, has called for the resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions after it was disclosed that he met twice with a Russian ambassador.

Sessions, who had a contentious confirmation hearing, did not reveal to Congress that he met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

“Preachers and the police don’t have to be perfect,” says Ebenezer Baptist Church senior pastor, Rev. Raphael G. Warnock. “But they do have to tell the truth. Jeff Sessions is the nation’s highest police officer and he did not tell the truth to all of us on national television under oath. This cannot stand. He must resign. Period.”

Sessions held a press conference Thursday afternoon in which he said he would recuse himself from investigations into the Trump campaign pre-election ties with Russia.

There has been pressure for Sessions to recuse himself . Some, though, have gone further, calling for his resignation.

President Trump has continued to support Sessions, saying he had confidence in the former Alabama senator.

The prominent Atlanta pastor, said in a statement that he had reached out to the Rev. Jerry Falwell Jr. and other faith leaders to join him in calls for Sessions’ resignation.

“As president of Liberty University, America’s largest Christian university, he mentors thousands of young students,” Warnock said. ” I am sure he teaches them to tell the truth. He can embody that lesson right now by standing by the truth, even when it’s an inconvenient truth.”

Falwell could not be reached for comment.

Republican Sen. David Perdue said Democrats were being hypocritical for lambasting Sessions on meeting with Moscow officials.

“We have literally reached a point where members of this body are slandering former colleagues for having and taking the same opportunities afforded to them,” Perdue said.

Related:

Ga. senators stand by Jeff Sessions amid Russian controversy

Sessions’ complicated history with the Civil Rights Movement