The federal investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 election has been expanded to include the case regarding former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and may extend further to encompass Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to a report late Friday.
Led by a special prosecutor, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, the federal probe will now take under its wing the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into whether Manafort worked to undermine anti-Russian opposition groups in Eastern Europe a decade ago, people familiar with the case told the Associated Press. He has not been charged with a crime in that case.
Manafort was let go by the Trump campaign back in August amid controversy over years-old business activity in Ukraine.
Separately, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told the AP that the case could be broadened to include Sessions’ and his own participation in the decision-making process behind Trump firing former FBI Director James Comey last month. Comey had been leading his agency’s probe into Russians’ involvement in the election and possible collusion between the Trump camp and the Kremlin.
If Mueller’s probe does expand to include Sessions and Manafort, Rosenstein told the AP, he has spoken with Mueller and would recuse himself from any oversight of Mueller. Sessions, formerly a senator from Alabama, recused himself from the Russian investigation back in March over concerns about his leaving out during the Senate confirmation process information about his meetings with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 campaign.
The Justice Department had appointed Mueller to be special prosecutor back in mid-May. The AP report says it is up to Rosenstein to authorize the expansion of Mueller’s investigation.
