Trump reportedly tried to oust both Jeff Sessions and Robert Mueller. Now Mueller may have the documents to prove it.


The Justice Department has given Special Counsel Robert Mueller a new treasure trove of documents, ABC News reported Wednesday. Thought to be included in the handover are internal department communications from when Attorney General Jeff Sessions reportedly offered to resign, as well as from when President Trump reportedly tried to dismiss Mueller.
These documents could illuminate how Trump may have tried to block the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Sessions recused himself from the Russia inquiry last March, but ABC News notes that Sessions was one of two Justice Department officials who wrote memos justifying the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump abruptly dismissed while he was leading the bureau's Russia probe.
Trump told NBC's Lester Holt just days after the dismissal that he fired Comey because of the Russia investigation, though the memos from Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein claimed it was because of the FBI's treatment of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Comey's ouster prompted Rosenstein — leading the effort because of Sessions' recusal — to appoint Mueller to head up the Justice Department's Russia investigation, a development that reportedly infuriated Trump enough to demand Sessions quit his post, The New York Times reported in September.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sessions ultimately did not quit, though he did reportedly go so far as to write a letter of resignation. A month later, Trump reportedly sought to fire Mueller but was talked out of it. ABC News reported Wednesday that Mueller possesses communications "produced within the Justice Department during that time, including emails with White House officials."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.
-
Today's political cartoons - April 13, 2025
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - waiting it out, hiring freeze, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 cracking cartoons about broken nest eggs
Cartoons Artists take on plummeting value, sound advice, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Mental health: a case of overdiagnosis?
Talking Point
By The Week UK Published
-
White House pushes for oversight of Columbia University
Speed Read The Trump administration is considering placing the school under a consent decree
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court backs wrongly deported migrant
Speed Read The Trump administration must 'facilitate' the return of wrongfully deported migrant Kilmar Ábrego García from El Salvador, Supreme Court says
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Two judges bar war-powers deportations
Speed Read The Trump administration was blocked from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport more alleged Venezuelan gang members
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump pauses some tariffs but ramps up China tax
Speed Read The president suspended most 'reciprocal' tariffs for 90 days and raised his tariffs for China to 125%
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Ukraine nabs first Chinese troops in Russia war
Speed Read Ukraine claims to have f two Chinese men fighting for Russia
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
IRS chief resigning after ICE deal on taxpayer data
Speed Read Several IRS officials are stepping down after the tax agency is forced to share protected taxpayer records to further Trump's deportation drive
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Musk and Navarro feud as Trump's trade war escalates
Speed Read The spat between DOGE chief Elon Musk and Trump's top trade adviser Peter Navarro suggests divisions within the president's MAGA coalition
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, China up trade war risks with tariff threats
Speed Read China said it would 'fight to the end' after President Donald Trump threatened an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published