--- title: Jeff Sessions Interviewed as Part of Robert Mueller's Russia Investigation description: Robert Mueller's team interviewed Attorney General Sessions last week as part of its investigation. canonical: https://time.com/5114360/jeff-sessions-interviewed-robert-mueller/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-23T15:29:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:43.283Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jeff Sessions Interviewed as Part of Robert Mueller's Russia Investigation og:description: It's the first known time a member of Trump's Cabinet has been interviewed og:url: https://time.com/5114360/jeff-sessions-interviewed-robert-mueller/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt939e97d3a32ff787/6988f7e54ee2629b3031075a/trump-year-one-timeline-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-SECURITY-IMMIGRATION og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jeff Sessions Interviewed as Part of Robert Mueller's Russia Investigation twitter:description: It's the first known time a member of Trump's Cabinet has been interviewed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt939e97d3a32ff787/6988f7e54ee2629b3031075a/trump-year-one-timeline-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jeff Sessions Interviewed as Part of Robert Mueller's Russia Investigation > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times 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. ## Video: Attorney General Jeff Sessions Recuses Himself From Trump Campaign Investigations [Watch (HLS stream): Attorney General Jeff Sessions Recuses Himself From Trump Campaign Investigations](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/D4mB8bbw.m3u8) (1:16)  _Published 2017-03-02. Under fire for previously undisclosed contact with the Russian ambassador, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Thursday that he would recuse himself from any investigations related to President Trump’s campaign_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 23, 2018 3:29 PM UTC  Attorney General Jeff Sessions waits for his turn to speak at the US Customs and Border Protection Press Room on March 6, 2017. Attorney General Jeff Sessions waits for his turn to speak at the US Customs and Border Protection Press Room on March 6, 2017. Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 23, 2018 3:29 PM UTC Robert Mueller’s team interviewed Attorney General Sessions last week as part of its [investigation](http://time.com/4953215/robert-mueller-investigation-what-we-know/), the Justice Department confirmed to TIME. Justice Department spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores said the special counsel’s office had interviewed Sessions in a story first reported by the [New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/us/politics/jeff-sessions-special-counsel-russia.html). He was questioned for “several hours,” the Times reports, in the investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election and whether President Donald Trump has obstructed justice. Sessions was top surrogate for Trump during the campaign, and once he became Attorney General, he recused himself from election issues, including the Russia investigation. The recusal came after revelations that he had misled Congress during his confirmation hearing about the fact that he had [met twice with the Russian ambassador](http://time.com/4688982/jeff-sessions-russia-contact-campaign/) during the campaign. This marks the first known time that Mueller’s team has interviewed a member of Trump’s Cabinet. The investigation has already brought charges against [four people in Trump’s orbit](http://time.com/5044879/donald-trump-aides-charged-investigation/), including former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign operative Paul Manafort. Former White House strategist Steve Bannon has also agreed to be interviewed by Mueller’s team, [CNN reported](http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/17/politics/bannon-mueller-strike-deal/index.html). ## Transcript Let me share a few thoughts, first, about the comments that I made to the committee that have been said to be incorrect and false, let me be clear, I never had meetings with Russian operatives, or Russian intermediaries, about the Trump campaign And the idea that I was part of a quote continuing exchange of information during the campaign, between Trump surrogates, and intermediaries for the Russian government is totally false. That is the question that Senator Franken asked me I have now decided to refuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any man relating in anyway through the campaign with President of the United States. I will only say this announcement should not be interpreted as confirmation of the existence of any investigation More suggestive of the scope of any such investigation because we at the Department of Justice resist confirming or denying the very existence of investigation. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5114360/jeff-sessions-interviewed-robert-mueller/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5114360/jeff-sessions-interviewed-robert-mueller/"},"headline":"Jeff Sessions Interviewed as Part of Robert Mueller's Russia Investigation","datePublished":"2018-01-23T15:29:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:53:43.283Z","description":"Robert Mueller's team interviewed Attorney General Sessions last week as part of its investigation.","url":"https://time.com/5114360/jeff-sessions-interviewed-robert-mueller/","keywords":["justice","russia","Department of Justice","Jeff Sessions","onetime","Robert Mueller","special counsel"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt939e97d3a32ff787/6988f7e54ee2629b3031075a/trump-year-one-timeline-05.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/blt939e97d3a32ff787/6988f7e54ee2629b3031075a/trump-year-one-timeline-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-SECURITY-IMMIGRATION","caption":"US-POLITICS-SECURITY-IMMIGRATION","creditText":"Mandel Ngan—AFP/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/justice/","name":"justice"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5114360/jeff-sessions-interviewed-robert-mueller/","name":"Jeff Sessions Interviewed as Part of Robert Mueller's Russia Investigation"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Attorney General Jeff Sessions Recuses Himself From Trump Campaign Investigations","description":"Under fire for previously undisclosed contact with the Russian ambassador, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Thursday that he would recuse himself from any investigations related to President Trump’s campaign","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/D4mB8bbw/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-03-02T21:43:03.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/D4mB8bbw.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5114360/jeff-sessions-interviewed-robert-mueller/","duration":"PT1M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5114360/jeff-sessions-interviewed-robert-mueller/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```