Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions was questioned for several hours last week by the special counsel's office investigating Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, a sign that the politically sensitive probe has moved deeper into the White House.
Sessions is the first known member of Trump's Cabinet to be pulled into the probe, which is looking at whether Trump or any of his aides assisted the Russian operation during the election campaign or were involved in obstruction of justice during the transition or early months of the administration.
A Justice Department spokesman confirmed Sessions was interviewed by prosecutors working with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III after the New York Times first reported it. The special counsel's office declined to comment.
Sessions was an early and key Trump supporter and surrogate during the presidential campaign. He was the first U.S. senator to support the New York businessman and vouched for his credentials as a conservative hard-liner on immigration issues.
After his upset win, Trump nominated Sessions to serve as attorney general, making him the country's top law enforcement official.
But Trump sharply criticized Sessions after he abruptly recused himself from supervising the Russia investigation in March after news reports revealed he had failed to notify Congress about his own meetings with Russia's ambassador.
His position and proximity to the president has placed him at the nexus of several issues that Mueller is investigating, including the firing of FBI Director James B. Comey in May for what Trump later indicated was the FBI focus on Russia's role in the campaign.
After that episode sparked a political firestorm, Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller to handle the case. Since then, Rosenstein has publicly defended the special counsel despite Republican criticisms that the investigation is fueled by a political agenda.
In several heated congressional hearings, Sessions refused to recount his conversations with Trump, declining to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee about events leading up to Comey's firing.
He said Trump may choose to assert executive privilege to keep the information confidential.
"I am protecting the right of the president to exert it if he chooses," Sessions said during the June hearing.
Twitter: @chrismegerian
ALSO
