Trump Cabinet member Sessions interviewed in U.S. Russia probe
WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was questioned last week by the special counsel’s office investigating potential collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, the U.S. Justice Department said yesterday.
The interview marked the first time that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office is known to have interviewed a member of Trump’s Cabinet, and is another milestone in an investigation that has hung over Trump’s year-old presidency.
Discussions between Trump’s personal lawyers and Mueller’s team have been under way about the possibility of an interview with Trump and what the scope of it might be, according to a person familiar with the talks.
Mueller’s office also interviewed former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey shortly after Trump fired Comey in May 2017, a person familiar with the matter said. Comey’s firing led to Mueller’s appointment to take over the FBI’s Russia investigation.
Sessions was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump’s candidacy and served as a campaign adviser before the Republican president appointed him as the top U.S. law enforcement official.
Trump has openly criticized Sessions for recusing himself from overseeing the Russia probe last March after media reports that he had failed to disclose 2016 meetings with Moscow’s then-ambassador, Sergei Kislyak.
Ian Prior, a Justice Department spokesman, confirmed a report in the New York Times that Sessions met for hours with Mueller’s team last week. Prior did not provide additional details. An attorney representing Sessions declined to comment.
Mueller’s team is expected to be interested in meetings between Sessions and Kislyak during the campaign, as well as the attorney general’s involvement in Trump’s firing of Comey, an episode central to the question of whether Trump may have committed obstruction of justice.
Trump shrugged off questions about Sessions’ interview at the White House, telling reporters: “I’m not at all concerned.” His spokeswoman Sarah Sanders declined comment on specific interviews but said the White House would not stand in the way of the probe.
“We’re going to be fully cooperative with the special counsel,” Sanders told reporters. “We want to see this come to a complete and full conclusion.”
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 campaign using hacking and propaganda to attempt to tilt the race in favor of Trump. Russia has denied it. Trump has denied any collusion with Russia, and has called the Mueller’s investigation a “witch hunt” and “hoax.” HARARE, (Reuters) - Zimbabwe has given cabinet ministers and senior government officials until the end of February to declare their assets as new President Emmerson Mnangagwa seeks to foster transparency and fight corruption.
Mnangagwa, 75, took power after Robert Mugabe was toppled by the military. He immediately promised to tackle corruption, especially in public institutions.
Misheck Sibanda, chief secretary to the president and cabinet, said in a statement that it was now mandatory for cabinet ministers, their deputies, senior government officials and bosses of state-owned businesses to declare their assets.
The officials will be required to disclose details on their real estate, other property valued above $100,000, and shareholdings in businesses by Febraury 28.
“The president expects the full and urgent cooperation of all the affected office bearers,” Sibanda said.
Mnangagwa, who is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, the first time by a Zimbabwean president, is trying to break with past policies of Mugabe in a bid to lure foreign investment and end the country’s international pariah status.