Declassified Documents Detail FBI Probe of Jeff Sessions Sought by Democrat Senators
https://thelibertytribune.com/2026/08/10/courts-and-law/declassified-documents-detail-fbi-probe-of-jeff-sessions-sought-by-democrat-senators/
The White House has declassified a set of documents revealing that the FBI launched a classified investigation into then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2017. This probe was initiated following a request from Democratic senators Patrick Leahy and Al Franken, who raised concerns about Sessions’ testimony regarding his contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election. The investigation, which was codenamed "March Toll," focused on whether Sessions had been truthful in his Senate testimony about these contacts.
The release of these documents underscores how political pressure and ongoing allegations of Russian collusion influenced the early investigative actions taken against officials in the Trump administration. The documents provide a rare look into the internal deliberations and processes that shaped federal law enforcement decisions during a highly charged political period.
The FBI formally opened the investigation on May 10, 2017, just one day after President Donald Trump dismissed FBI Director James Comey. According to a contemporaneous memo, the case was categorized as a "sensitive investigative matter" and was placed under "prohibited status" by Assistant FBI Director E.W. "Bill" Priestap. This status limited access to the case file, which was stored in a sensitive compartmented information facility at the FBI's Washington Field Office. The investigation was triggered by a letter dated March 20, 2017, from Senators Leahy and Franken to then-FBI Director Comey. In their letter, the senators accused Sessions of providing "discernibly false" testimony about his interactions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.