Thursday on MSNBC while discussing allegations Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with Russian officials as reported by The Washington Post late Wednesday night, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said an investigation into the Trump administration’s connections with Russia “will lead to impeachment of the president.”

Partial transcript as follows:

MELVIN: Do you think Senator Jeff Sessions perjured himself? Do you remember that confirmation hearing?

WATERS: I do. I think it’s very clear. He did not qualify that meeting in any way. He did not say, yes, I’m a surrogate working in the campaign for the president — for Donald Trump, and I met with the Russian ambassador on a couple of times, but it had nothing to do with sanctions or anything else. He could have said that if he had wanted to. But when you listen to him and his response, it’s very clear that he omitted sharing that information that he had met with him, period.

MELVIN: What’s the appropriate response here?

WATERS: Well, you know, he really should step up to the plate and recuse himself. That may make people think better about him. But I think he should resign. I think he should get out. I think it has already been demonstrated that he is too close to the president. He was one of the early supporters of the president. And I think he supports lifting the sanctions. That’s what I believe. And I think that’s what this is all about. All of these people in and around this president who are so focused on Russia. Why? Why do we have not only members in his cabinet that are connected to oil and gas in Russia? Why do we have a back door proposal that went into Flynn to talk about getting involved in some kind of peace agreement between the Ukraine and Russia and the bottom line of that proposal being lifting the sanctions? I think this is what it’s all about. And I think that Jeff Sessions cannot be impartial. I think he needs to get out of the way. And I think we even have some Republicans that are saying that now, that he cannot be impartial. So I think he should resign. That’s what think.

MELVIN: Short of news conferences and tweets and posts on social media and cable news appearances, you guys are in the minority. So what can Democrats really do here to force his hand?

WATERS: Well, I think we have to step up to the plate and we have to help explain to people what we think these connections are all about. That’s why I’ve been so focused on saying we have got to have credible investigations and we have got to drill down. We’ve got to connect the dots. And we’ve got to follow the money. Remember, I’ve been saying this for a long time and even though some people didn’t like it, I said that I believe that if we do the work, it will lead to impeachment of the president. And I still mean that.

MELVIN: Should that be the goal, Congresswoman? Should the goal be impeachment? Or should the goal be finding out precisely what has happened?

WATERS: Well, you can’t separate the two. The goal is to drill down, as I have said repeatedly. Get the facts. connect the dots. Find out why all of this interest is in Russia, all of these people in this administration that are connected. Why is it his lawyer, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Sater, this friend, who is a criminal, by the way, are all so interested in Russia and lifting the sanctions? When you do that, I think it leads to impeachment.

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN