Before special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia election meddling probe interviewed Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department reportedly turned over a trove of correspondence related to the attorney general’s attempted resignation last year.
The DOJ also provided the special counsel with emails related to former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, ABC News reported.
Mr. Sessions was interviewed by Mr. Mueller’s team two weeks ago.
Sources told ABC News that the documents obtained by the Mueller team were related to a broadening investigation into whether President Trump “sought to obstruct a federal inquiry into possible connections between his presidential campaign and Russian operatives.”
Since last fall, reports have detailed what appear to be an effort by Mr. Mueller to probe last May’s firing of FBI Director James B. Comey, in addition to Mr. Sessions’ earlier decision to recuse himself from the entire federal Russian investigation.
After Mr. Comey’s dismissal, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mr. Mueller as special counsel to investigate the Russian election meddling issue.
After Mr. Mueller’s appointment, Mr. Trump told Mr. Sessions he should resign, The New York Times reported. The attorney general then submitted a letter of resignation, which the president ultimately rejected.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that if he’d known Mr. Sessions intended to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, then he would have never hired him to run the DOJ.
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
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