The New York Times broke the news Tuesday morning that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators questioned Attorney General Jeff Sessions for several hours last week, making Sessions the first known Trump cabinet member Mueller's team has interviewed. A source told CNN the interview took place Wednesday, it was Sessions' first, and he was not under subpoena.
NYT:
The attorney general announced in March that he had recused himself from all matters related to the 2016 election, including the Russia inquiry. The disclosure came after it was revealed that Mr. Sessions had not told Congress that he met twice with the Russian ambassador to the United States at the time, Sergey I. Kislyak, during the campaign.
(...)
For Mr. Mueller, Mr. Sessions is a key witness to two of the major issues he is investigating: the campaign’s possible ties to the Russians and whether the president tried to obstruct the Russia investigation.
Mr. Mueller can question Mr. Sessions about his role as the head of the campaign’s foreign policy team. Mr. Sessions was involved in developing Mr. Trump’s position toward Russia and met with Russian officials, including the ambassador.
Sessions headed up a March 2016 meeting of Trump's foreign policy advisors during which George Papadopoulos, who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, pitched a meeting between Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin. Sessions also played a key role in the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.
NYT:
When Mr. Trump learned in March [2017] that Mr. Sessions was considering whether to recuse himself, the president had the White House’s top lawyer, Donald F. McGahn II, lobby Mr. Sessions to remain in charge of the Russia investigation.
Mr. Sessions instead followed the guidance of career prosecutors at the Justice Department, who advised him that he should not be involved with the investigation. When Mr. Trump was told of this, the president erupted in anger, saying he needed an attorney general to protect him.
Reporters asked President Trump if he was concerned about Sessions' interview.
NYT:
“No, not at all,” Mr. Trump said.
The president was also asked whether Christopher A. Wray, the director of the F.B.I. who replaced Mr. Comey, had threatened to resign because Mr. Trump and Mr. Sessions were pressuring him to clear the bureau of loyalists to Mr. Comey, as reported by the website Axios late on Monday.
“He didn’t at all,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Wray. Asked again, the president added: “He did not even a little bit. Nope. He’s going to do a good job.”
Mr. Wray’s tenure has been fraught as the president has repeatedly fanned suspicion about whether the F.B.I.’s work is politically motivated. But he stopped short of threatening to quit, a person familiar with the events said. Mr. Wray told Mr. Sessions that he needed to move at his own pace to make changes within the F.B.I., and that if the president and the attorney general wanted replacements made more quickly, someone else would have to do it, the person said.
Sessions Is Interviewed in Mueller’s Russia Investigation (NYT)
Mueller's office spoke with Sessions, Comey in Russia investigation (CNN)
Comey and Sessions Are Questioned for Hours in Russia Inquiry (NYT)