One of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ aides asked a Capitol Hill staffer for harmful information about then-FBI Director James Comey, a report Thursday said.
Days before Comey was fired from his post and just after he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in May, a Sessions aide asked a congressional staffer if he or she had detrimental details about Comey that was part of an attempt to undermine Comey, according to the New York Times.
Sessions also wanted a negative article about Comey each day, someone with knowledge of the meeting told the Times.
A Justice Department spokesperson denied the interaction ever occurred.
“This did not happen and would not happen,” Sarah Isgur Flores said. “Plain and simple.”
The White House has said Trump fired Comey in May per the recommendation of Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. In a letter, Rosenstein said he “cannot defend the Director’s handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton’s emails, and I do not understand his refusal to accept the nearly universal judgement that he was mistaken.”
The report said Trump initially planned to submit a letter to Comey, calling the Russia probe “fabricated and politically motivated.” Aides prevented him from following through with it.
Furthermore, Trump instructed White House counsel Don McGahn to stop Sessions from recusing himself from the DOJ’s Russia probe looking into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin during the 2016 campaign.
Despite McGahn’s efforts, Sessions went through with recusing himself. Trump was reportedly outraged by the move and said he needed Sessions to protect him.
Following Sessions’ recusal, Rosenstein appointed special counsel Robert Mueller to spearhead the Russia probe.
