The Russia House: Congressional Democrats are demanding that Attorney Gen. Jeff Sessions recuse himself from investigations into Russian influence on the election because he spoke with the Russian ambassador while he was a close supporter of the Trump campaign. Sessions did not disclose the conversations during his Senate confirmation hearings.

Although he did meet with the Russian ambassador, Sessions said in a statement issued late last night, “I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.”

In the last days of the Obama administration, the NY Times reports, the president’s aides made sure that a wide variety of agencies knew about Russian efforts to influence the US election.

The Times story says, “Former American officials say they had two aims: to ensure that such meddling isn’t duplicated in future American or European elections, and to leave a clear trail of intelligence for government investigators.”

The story says, with little qualification, that intelligence agencies including the British and the Dutch intercepted communications between Russian officials and aides to the Trump presidential campaign.

Trump has repeatedly denounced stories about Russia connections as “fake news,” even while railing against the people who’ve leaked the information.

Trump Money: The Dow Jones rose more than 300 points yesterday, closing at a new high of 21,115 as investors continue to ride their optimism about good things to come for them under the Trump presidency. The Dow has risen a stunning 1,000 points in just 24 days.

The markets apparently liked what they heard in the president’s Tuesday night speech to Congress, although there are a lot of financial conflicts in his plans and few specifics on how he would pay for his dreams. He wants to increase military spending by 10 percent while building his border wall, rebuilding the national infrastructure, and cutting taxes. But the markets are looking ahead to it all making sense.

Truth Squad: Trump’s speech bent and twisted the facts to his advantage Tuesday night, but his biggest whopper was when he said 94 million Americans are out of work. It’s technically true, but that includes high school and college students, people with disabilities, stay-at-home parents and retirees.

Think about it. If 94 million people were looking for work the unemployment rate would be about 40 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the actual number of people unemployed is about 7.6 million and the unemployment rate is 4.8 percent, nearly a full employment economy.

The Envelope: The two PriceWaterhouseCoopers accountants responsible for screwing up the final moments of the Oscars have been told they will not be invited back. Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz, who walked the red carpet carrying briefcases holding the red envelopes, have had their last moments in the limelight. Cullinan, who handed the wrong envelope to Warren Beatty, was tweeting about Emma Stone moments before the monumental screw-up.

Toasted: A Canadian television report says the chicken in the Subway chicken sandwiches is lacking a high percentage of a vital ingredient: chicken. The CBC reports that the chicken at McDonald’s, Wendy’s, A&W and Tim Horton’s restaurants in Canada all scored from 80 to 90 percent chicken DNA. But at Subway, according to testing commissioned by the CBC, “The oven roasted chicken scored 53.6 percent chicken DNA, and the chicken strips were found to have just 42.8 percent chicken DNA.” The majority of the remaining DNA was soy.

All in the Family: The widow of former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Beau, is in a romance with Biden’s other son, Hunter, the family has confirmed. Hallie Biden has three kids and he has two. Hunter and his wife Kathleen separated in October 2015, five months after Beau’s death. Joe Biden told the NY Post, “We are all lucky that Hunter and Hallie found each other as they were putting their lives together again after such sadness.”

Spectacular: Sicily’s Mt. Aetna is erupting, sending rivers of red hot lava streaming down its sides. Fountains of lava can be seen from as far as 22 miles away in the city of Catania.

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