Attorney General spoken to in Russia inquiry
US ATTORNEY general Jeff Sessions was interviewed for hours last week in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, the US Justice Department has confirmed.
The interview comes as Mr Mueller is investigating whether President Donald Trump’s actions in office, including the firing of FBI director James Comey, constituted obstruction of justice.
Mr Mueller is also investigating contacts between Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
Mr Sessions is thought to be the highest-ranking Trump administration official to be interviewed by Mr Mueller’s team.
He is seen as a potentially important witness given that Mr Trump initially said he fired Mr Comey last May at the recommendation of the Justice Department.
At the time, the White House released a memo from Mr Sessions’ deputy, Rod Rosenstein, faulting Mr Comey for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation and appearing to lay the groundwork for his dismissal.
Mr Trump has since said he was thinking of “the Russia thing” when he fired Mr Comey.
Mr Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation in early March after acknowledging that he had had two previously undisclosed encounters with the Russian ambassador during Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
He said it would be improper for him to oversee a probe into a campaign for which he was a vocal and prominent supporter.
Mr Rosenstein appointed Mr Mueller, a former FBI director, to take over the Russia investigation one week after Mr Comey was fired.
Mr Sessions’ interview was first reported by
President Trump’s campaign and transition teams have been accused of colluding with Russian agents to influence the US election in the Mr Trump’s favour.
Intelligence agencies, including the CIA and NSA, concluded with “high confidence” in 2016 that Russia was behind an effort influence the presidential election against Hillary Clinton for Mr Trump using email hacking and social media.
Russian president Vladimir Putin and Mr Trump have both ridiculed claims of collusion. Mr Trump called it “the greatest political witch hunt in history”.
Trump aides known to have had contact with Russians include the president’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, his son Donald Trump Jr, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and the Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Four people have been indicted by the special counsel: Paul Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman; Rick Gates, a former business associate of Mr Manafort; George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign adviser, and Michael Flynn, a former national security adviser to the Trump administration.
says the special counsel investigation could last until 2019.