WASHINGTON — Former FBI Director James B. Comey told senators at a closed-door briefing that the FBI was examining whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions had a third, undisclosed discussion with a senior Russian diplomat at a Washington hotel last year.
The information indicated that Sessions may have had a private encounter with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to Washington, on the sidelines of a campaign event at the Mayflower Hotel on April 27, 2016, when Sessions was a U.S. senator from Alabama, according to an U.S. official familiar with the briefing.
Comey described the unverified intelligence in a classified session shortly after he had told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday that he was “aware of facts” about Sessions that he could not discuss in public.
A Justice Department spokeswoman, Sarah Isgur Flores, denied that Sessions had spoken to the Russian envoy at the hotel.
“The then-senator did not have any private or side conversations with any Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel,” she said in a statement.
The development was the latest to suggest a widening series of investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and any nexus between the Trump campaign and authorities in Moscow. A special counsel also is reviewing Comey’s claim that Trump asked him to “let go” of an FBI investigation.
On Friday, the House Intelligence Committee wrote White House Counsel Don McGahn, asking if the White House had any tapes or memos “now or in the past” about Comey’s private conversations with Trump.
“To the extent they exist now,” the committee requested copies by June 23.
After he fired Comey on May 9, Trump tweeted that the ousted FBI chief should be careful in case the White House had secretly taped their conversations.
“Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” Comey told the Senate committee Thursday, urging that they be released.
At a brief news conference in the Rose Garden on Friday, Trump promised to say “in the very near future” if the tapes exist. He told reporters they would be “very disappointed when you hear the answer.”
Sessions already has come under fire for failing to publicly disclose two other meetings with Kislyak, the Russian diplomat who has been a pivotal figure in the investigations.
Although he is the nation’s highest law enforcement official, Sessions recused himself on March 2 from any role in those investigations after news reports revealed that he had failed to tell his Senate confirmation hearing about the two other meetings with Kislyak.
His decision to step down reportedly infuriated President Trump, and the two have had such a testy relationship in recent weeks that multiple news reports said Sessions at one point had offered to resign.
On Thursday, the Justice Department said that Sessions had decided to recuse himself because of his role in Trump’s presidential campaign, saying “it was for that reason and that reason only.” It did not mention his meetings with Kislyak.
Sessions has denied any wrongdoing, saying his two meetings with the Russian diplomat — first during an event at the Republican National Convention last July and again at his Senate office in September — were routine given his responsibilities on Capitol Hill.