Author: Sari Horwitz
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Tens of thousands with outstanding warrants purged from background check database for gun purchases
Tens of thousands of people wanted by law enforcement officials have been removed this year from the FBI criminal background check database that prohibits fugitives from justice from buying guns. The names were taken out after the FBI in February changed its legal interpretation of “fugitive from justice” to say it pertains only to wanted…
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he plans to stay in role, despite Trump’s comments about him
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday that he plans to stay in his job despite the president’s public assertion that he would not have nominated Sessions to the post had he known that he would recuse himself from the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. At a news conference ostensibly meant to announce…
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Special counsel is investigating Trump for possible obstruction of justice, officials say
The special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election is interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice, officials said. The move by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to investigate Trump’s conduct marks a major…
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Jeff Sessions testifies: Refuses to say whether he spoke to President Trump about Comey’s handling of Russia investigation
Attorney General Jeff Sessions refused to answer repeated questions from a panel of senators Tuesday about his private conversations with President Trump, including whether he spoke to Trump about former FBI Director James B. Comey’s handling of the investigation into coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential race. In a number…
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Sessions won’t testify at congressional budget hearings but at Senate intelligence hearing instead
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had agreed to testify this week before the Senate and House appropriations committees about the Justice Department budget, wrote the chairmen of the committees Saturday and said he was sending his deputy to testify instead. Sessions was scheduled to testify before Congress on Tuesday for the first time since he…
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Sessions offered in recent months to resign as attorney general
Attorney General Jeff Sessions offered to resign at one point in recent months after his relationship with President Trump grew increasingly tense, according to two people close to the White House. The strain between the two began after Sessions recused himself in March from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Sessions announced…
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Jared Kushner now a focus in Russia investigation
Investigators are focusing on a series of meetings held by Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and an influential White House adviser, as part of their probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and related matters, according to people familiar with the investigation. Kushner, who held meetings in December with the Russian ambassador and a…
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Deputy attorney general appoints special counsel to oversee probe of Russian interference in election
The Justice Department appointed a special counsel Wednesday to investigate possible coordination between President Trump’s associates and Russian officials — a clear signal to the White House that federal investigators will aggressively pursue the matter despite the president’s insistence that there was no “collusion’’ with the Kremlin. Robert S. Mueller III, a former prosecutor who…
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Sessions weighs return to harsher punishments for low-level drug crimes
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is reviewing policy changes set in place by the Obama administration that eliminated harsh punishments for low-level drug crimes and could direct federal prosecutors to again charge drug offenders with crimes carrying the most severe penalties, according to U.S. officials. The change, if adopted, would overturn a memo by then-Attorney General…
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How Jeff Sessions wants to bring back the war on drugs
When the Obama administration launched a sweeping policy to reduce harsh prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, rave reviews came from across the political spectrum. Civil rights groups and the Koch brothers praised Obama for his efforts, saying he was making the criminal justice system more humane. But there was one person who watched these…