--- 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: 2026-02-23T18:58:47.890Z 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jeff Sessions Interviewed as Part of Robert Mueller's Russia Investigation ## 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). ```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":"2026-02-23T18:58:47.890Z","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"}}] ```