Shortly after word came on Tuesday morning that special counsel Robert Mueller had pulled in Attorney General Jefferson Sessions for an interview, it was learned that Mueller previously had another conversation—one that may have shaped many of the questions Sessions received.
The interview with Mr. Comey focused on a series of memos he wrote about his interactions with Mr. Trump that unnerved Mr. Comey. In one memo, Mr. Comey said that Mr. Trump had asked him to end the F.B.I.’s investigation into the former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn.
Comey’s interview came in 2017. So there should have been some weeks to digest the contents of his memos, and the other information he had about Trump’s requests to drop the Russia investigation and obtain a pledge of personal loyalty, before Mueller brought in Sessions to sit in his chair. Comey’s dismissal by Trump was far from the only reason Mueller was appointed as special counsel, but it seemed to be the final straw, and maybe the biggest load of guilt that caused Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to give Mueller his post.
One very interesting thing about this information is the timing:
The disclosure about Mr. Comey’s interview came hours after the Justice Department spokeswoman, Sarah Isgur Flores, confirmed that the interview with Mr. Sessions occurred. Mr. Sessions was accompanied by the longtime Washington lawyer Chuck Cooper to the interview.
The suggestion here is that going into his interview with Mueller, Jeff Sessions may not have known that the special counsel had already had a face-to-face with James Comey. So Sessions may have been answering specific questions about events leading up to Trump firing Comey, and earlier events between Trump, Comey, and Sessions, without being aware that Mueller had details from the former FBI director.
But Sessions knows now.
Firing Comey has always been one of the clearest signs of Trump’s willingness to take any step to obstruct the Russia investigation. Though Trump can, in theory, dismiss the FBI director without cause, his own attorneys felt that the initial firing memo (penned by Trump and Stephen Miller) was too blatant in its admission that Comey was being kicked out for refusing to halt the FBI’s efforts around investigating the Trump campaign. The revised memo, authored by Rosenstein, laid the blame for Comey’s firing on too-harsh treatment of Hillary Clinton during the review of her email server—reasoning that Trump disowned almost before the ink was dry.
Sessions was directly involved in that incident, as well as with previous meetings that included Trump and Comey.