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 The New York Times.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here