Sessions: I Have Not Been Contacted By Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Probe

Updated at 1:36 p.m. ET

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Wednesday that he had not been interviewed or contacted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The revelation came after some squirming by Sessions as Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) grilled him during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about his interactions with the Mueller probe thus far.

“I’d be pleased to answer that. I am not sure I should without clearing with the special counsel. What do you think?” Sessions said.

Leahy repeated his question: whether Sessions had been interviewed by Mueller’s team, prompting Sessions to say “no.”

Leahy had also asked whether Mueller had requested an interview with Sessions. That question went unanswered until later in the day, when Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) pressed Sessions further.

With questions that seemed to suggest Blumenthal knew something, he asked Sessions if he had been contacted by Mueller’s probe. Sessions said he didn’t know, but picked up on the implication of Blumenthal’s questions. “Do you have a source?” he asked Blumenthal at one point. Sessions promised to check with his staff.

A short time later, Sessions said his staff had subsequently assured him Mueller’s probe had not reached out for an interview.

“My staff handed me a note that I have not been asked for an interview at this point. My office certainly hasn’t been contacted with regard to that,” Sessions said.

“Maybe you better check your source.”