--- title: Jeff Sessions Says He Hasn't Been Briefed on Russian Hacking description: Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that he has never received a briefing on Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election canonical: https://time.com/4817199/jeff-sessions-testimony-russia-investigation-briefing/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-13T20:46:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:07:52.793Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jeff Sessions Has Never Been Briefed on Russian Interference in U.S. Election og:description: "I know nothing but what I've read in the paper" og:url: https://time.com/4817199/jeff-sessions-testimony-russia-investigation-briefing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3b4c786ab8d6148/6988d1780a4a22366e9ce984/jeff-sessions-senate-testimony.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Attorney General Jeff Sessions Testifies Before Senate Intelligence Committee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jeff Sessions Has Never Been Briefed on Russian Interference in U.S. Election twitter:description: "I know nothing but what I've read in the paper" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3b4c786ab8d6148/6988d1780a4a22366e9ce984/jeff-sessions-senate-testimony.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Attorney General Jeff Sessions Has Never Been Briefed on Russian Interference in U.S. Election  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jun 13, 2017 8:46 PM UTC  U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill June 13, 2017 in Washington, DC. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill June 13, 2017 in Washington, DC.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jun 13, 2017 8:46 PM UTC [Attorney General Jeff Sessions](http://time.com/4816986/jeff-sessions-testimony-russia-transcript/) said during new sworn testimony that he has never received a briefing on [Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election](http://time.com/4816993/jeff-sessions-testimony-russia-collusion/). “It appears so, the intelligence community seems to be united in that,” Sessions said Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, in response to a question from Maine Senator Angus King about whether Russia worked to influence the election. “But I have to tell you Senator King, I know nothing but what I’ve read in the paper. I’ve never received any detailed briefing on how hacking occurred or how information was alleged to have influenced the campaign.” King asked Sessions, now the top law enforcement officer in the country, to confirm that he never received any briefing on the Russian measures in the election. “No, I don’t believe I ever did,” Sessions replied. Sessions, a former senator and Trump campaign aide, has recused himself as attorney general from [investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible connections](http://time.com/4804010/donald-trump-investigation-robert-mueller-paul-manafort/) to Russia. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4817199/jeff-sessions-testimony-russia-investigation-briefing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4817199/jeff-sessions-testimony-russia-investigation-briefing/"},"headline":"Attorney General Jeff Sessions Has Never Been Briefed on Russian Interference in U.S. Election","datePublished":"2017-06-13T20:46:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:07:52.793Z","description":"\"I know nothing but what I've read in the paper\"","url":"https://time.com/4817199/jeff-sessions-testimony-russia-investigation-briefing/","keywords":["Congress","russia","Department of Justice","justice","Jeff Sessions","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3b4c786ab8d6148/6988d1780a4a22366e9ce984/jeff-sessions-senate-testimony.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3b4c786ab8d6148/6988d1780a4a22366e9ce984/jeff-sessions-senate-testimony.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Attorney General Jeff Sessions Testifies Before Senate Intelligence Committee","caption":"Attorney General Jeff Sessions Testifies Before Senate Intelligence Committee","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4817199/jeff-sessions-testimony-russia-investigation-briefing/","name":"Attorney General Jeff Sessions Has Never Been Briefed on Russian Interference in U.S. Election"}}]}] ```