--- title: Jeff Sessions Hired His Own Private Lawyer description: Attorney General Jeff Sessions has retained his own private lawyer, D.C. litigator Charles Cooper, amid the Russia investigation. canonical: https://time.com/4826010/jeff-sessions-charles-cooper-attorney-russia-investigation/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-20T23:04:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:19:21.921Z article:section: Politics og:title: Attorney General Jeff Sessions Hired His Own Private Lawyer og:description: The Attorney General has retained his own attorney og:url: https://time.com/4826010/jeff-sessions-charles-cooper-attorney-russia-investigation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3b4c786ab8d6148/6988d1780a4a22366e9ce984/jeff-sessions-senate-testimony.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Attorney General Jeff Sessions Testifies Before Senate Intelligence Committee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Attorney General Jeff Sessions Hired His Own Private Lawyer twitter:description: The Attorney General has retained his own attorney twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3b4c786ab8d6148/6988d1780a4a22366e9ce984/jeff-sessions-senate-testimony.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Attorney General Jeff Sessions Hired His Own Private Lawyer > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b6f8274c-eda6-4500-b420-f65a1c72bbd5&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Attorney General Jeff Sessions Has Never Been Briefed on Russian Interference in U.S. Election [Watch (HLS stream): Attorney General Jeff Sessions Has Never Been Briefed on Russian Interference in U.S. Election](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Vjro1oDR.m3u8) (1:07)  _Published 2017-06-13. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said during new sworn testimony that he has never received a briefing on Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election._  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jun 20, 2017 11:04 PM UTC Attorney General Jeff Sessions said during new sworn testimony that he has never received a briefing on Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jun 20, 2017 11:04 PM UTC [Attorney General Jeff Sessions](http://time.com/4817199/jeff-sessions-testimony-russia-investigation-briefing/) has retained his own private lawyer, D.C. litigator Charles Cooper. Cooper has been providing counsel for Sessions, and helped him with preparation for his June 13 testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to the Associated Press. The attorney is a founding member and chairman of Cooper & Kirk, PLLC, a law firm in Washington D.C., according to the [firm’s website.](http://www.cooperkirk.com/lawyers/charles-j-cooper/) He clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist before joining Justice Department during the Reagan administration in 1981\. In 1985, he was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the office of legal counsel. Cooper worked for the Reagan administration until 1988, when he went into private practice. In 2013, he defended Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California, before the Supreme Court. Both Cooper and the Department of Justice did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Sessions joins other high-ranking members of the Trump administration in retaining their own lawyers as special Counsel Robert Mueller continues to investigate claims of collusion between Russia and Trump associates during the 2016 campaign. Both President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Vice President Mike Pence have hired personal lawyers. Sessions vehemently denied any claims of collusion or improper meetings when he testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting its own Russia investigation. The [Washington _Post_ reported March 1 ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f%5Fstory.html?amp;utm%5Fterm=.19d6ad32ae65&hpid=hp%5Frhp-top-table-main%5Fno-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm%5Fterm=.952df534d18d)that Sessions spoke with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak twice in 2016, and did not disclose these encounters when he was asked about them during his confirmation hearing. The day after the _Post_ report, Sessions [recused himself ](http://time.com/4689524/jeff-sessions-recuse-russia-trump-transcript/?iid=sr-link2)from overseeing the Russia investigation, although he said it was because of his role as a campaign surrogate rather than these meetings. The job now falls to his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel. ## Transcript Do you believe the Russians interfered with the 2016 elections? It appears so. The intelligence community seems to be untied in that, but I have to tell you, Senator King, I know nothing but what I've read in the paper. I've never received any Detail. Briefing on how hacking occurred, or how information was alleged to have influenced- Between the election, there was a memorandum from the intelligence community on October 9th, detailed what the Russians were doing. After the election, before the inauguration, you never sought any information about this rather dramatic attack on our country? No. You never asked for a briefing or attended a briefing or read the intelligence reports? You might have been very critical of me if I, as an active part of the campaign, was seeking intelligence relating to something that might be relevant to the campaign. I'm not sure that would have been- I'm not talking about the campaign, I'm talking about what the Russians did. You received no briefing on the Russian active measures and connection with the 2016 election? 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