Don McGahn and other Trump officials urged Jeff Sessions to keep control of Russia probe
WASHINGTON – White House counsel Don McGahn and other Trump administration officials sought to persuade Jeff Sessions to remain in control of the investigation into Russia’s election interference, even as the attorney general faced mounting pressure last year to recuse himself, an official familiar with the matter said Friday.Â
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the private communications, described a chaotic whirl of events leading up to Sessions’ ultimate March recusal.
During that time, McGahn reached out to Sessions to indicate that he did not have to disqualify himself after failing to disclose his own contacts with Russians during the campaign. But it wasn’t just him, the official said, noting that other administration officials offered similar counsel.
The contacts were not an attempt to pressure Sessions, the official said. Rather, the communications were described as advice that officials would provide as part of their duties.
McGahn’s contacts were first reported by the New York Times. That report indicated that President Trump instructed McGahn to persuade Sessions not to step aside from the inquiry into Russia’s campaign of cyberattacks and fake news to influence the election in favor of Trump, which continues to cast a pall over the administration.
The official did not know how many times McGahn and others had reached out to the attorney general, describing contacts that often ran late into the night as the attorney general’s decision became imminent.
White House special counsel Ty Cobb declined to comment on McGahn’s contacts with Sessions.
Sessions’s ultimate decision to recuse for failing to disclose prior contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the campaign so angered Trump that Sessions, one of the president’s earliest and strongest supporters, offered to resign.Â
Although his resignation was not accepted, the wedge between Trump and his attorney general has only widened, with the president last summer publicly rebuking his attorney general as “beleaguered” and “weak” last summer. Trump went so far as to say that he would not have chosen Sessions for the top Justice post if he had known the attorney general would recuse himself from Russia.Â
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As recently as last weekend, Trump has blamed Sessions’Â recusal for the escalation of the Russia investigation. In an interview with the New York Times, Trump suggested that former Attorney General Eric Holder had provided cover for President Obama on several politically-charged matters.
The ongoing Russia inquiry includes whether Trump sought to obstruct the investigation when he abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey for his handling of the probe. News reports revealing that action led to the appointment of former FBI Director Robert Mueller to lead the investigation as a special counsel of the Justice Department.Â
Mueller’s inquiry so far has produced criminal charges against four former campaign officials, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn who pleaded guilty last month for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Kislyak.
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