House panel to quiz Russian-American lobbyist, Sessions

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House intelligence committee is preparing to interview a Russian-American lobbyist who attended a meeting last year with President Donald Trump’s son as part of its probe into Russian election interference. The panel is also expected to interview Attorney General Jeff Sessions in coming weeks, according to people familiar with the interviews.

The House interview with Rinat Akhmetshin is scheduled for next week, and Sessions’ interview is planned for Nov. 30, according to one of the sources. Dates for witnesses have often been pushed later.

Congressional investigators are probing the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr., as is special counsel Robert Mueller. Akhmetshin already has been interviewed by the Senate intelligence panel, according to a person familiar with that interview.

Lawmakers have been interested in Sessions’ knowledge about interactions between Trump campaign aides and Russians. Sessions did not attend the Trump tower meeting.

Sessions recused himself from overseeing an investigation into the Trump campaign in March after acknowledging two previously undisclosed conversations with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the campaign. Since then, he has downplayed his own knowledge about communications between campaign aides and Russian officials and intermediaries. But former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page testified last week that he alerted Sessions of a trip he was taking to Moscow last summer.

Sessions testified publicly before the Senate intelligence committee earlier this year. At that hearing, Sessions called any implication that he colluded with Russians a “detestable lie.”