Mueller's team interviews Sessions

Mueller's team interviews Sessions in Russia probe

By JOSH GERSTEIN

Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators interviewed Attorney General Jeff Sessions for several hours last week as part of the ongoing probe into ties between Russia and President Donald Trump's campaign, two Justice Department officials said Tuesday.

The interview with Sessions took place more than seven months after Mueller was appointed, and it came as Trump continues to complain publicly about the ongoing investigation.

Sessions, who was a top adviser to Trump during the 2016 campaign, played a role in events touching on several threads of the special counsel's inquiry. Perhaps most significantly, he was involved in Oval Office discussions that led to the firing of FBI Director James Comey last March.

The attorney general also wrote a memo endorsing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's letter justifying the FBI chief's firing based on missteps related to the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Trump later acknowledged that at least part of his reason for axing Comey was ongoing irritation at the FBI's investigation into alleged collusion between his campaign and Russia.

Other witnesses have said Mueller is investigating events surrounding the firing and whether they amounted to attempts to interfere with the Russia probe, which the special counsel took over after Comey's exit.

Sessions' personal attorney Chuck Cooper accompanied him for the interview, which was the attorney general's first with the Mueller team, officials said. The questioning of Sessions comes relatively late in Mueller's investigation. Several senior White House aides were questioned in November and December.

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment on what he called “our ongoing investigation.” The interview was first reported by The New York Times.

Pressed on whether he was worried about one of his Cabinet members meeting with federal prosecutors, President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House Tuesday he was "not at all concerned."

Sessions also met on at least two occasions with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. but did not disclose those meetings as he was facing confirmation. He later said he didn't think the encounters were relevant because they were in his capacity as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, not as a campaign official.

Sessions also attended meetings of Trump's foreign policy team, including a March 2016 round-table gathering attended by George Papadopoulos, who has since pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with advocates for Russia. He is cooperating with investigators and awaiting sentencing.

Carter Page, another foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign who has drawn attention from Mueller's team and congressional investigators, testified that he told Sessions about a planned trip to Russia during the run-up to the 2016 election. Sessions has said he does not recall the exchange.

Sessions recused himself from the Russia inquiry early on in his tenure as attorney general, a decision that infuriated Trump, who has said he should have known Sessions would recuse himself before Trump nominated Sessions to the post.