Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office interviewed former FBI Director James Comey last year, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The Times cited two unnamed people briefed on the matter, and specified that the interview focused on memos that Comey wrote, while he was still FBI director, documenting his encounters with Trump.
The Times reported earlier Tuesday that the special counsel’s office had also interviewed Attorney General Jeff Sessions last week, amid reports that Trump and Sessions were pressuring FBI Director Christopher Wray to dismiss Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
As Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee in June of last year, a month after Trump fired him, the memos include an account of Trump pressuring him to drop the FBI’s investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, in addition to Trump’s request for Comey’s “loyalty.”
In an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt after he fired Comey, Trump acknowledged that the FBI’s probe into Russian election meddling had motivated his decision.
“In fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story. It’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won,” he said.