What the Hell Is Going On at the Justice Department?

Out of all the evil assholes who are currently employed in the Trump administration, Attorney General Jeff Sessions may be the most evil and the biggest asshole. His bigoted statements and actions are too numerous to count; he has somehow made an inherently oppressive institution, the U.S. Department of Justice, even more oppressive.

But because of statements he made before he even got the job, Sessions was reportedly himself investigated by the FBI — an action that was authorized by the man he fired last week.

Sources told ABC News that “nearly a year ago,” former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe launched a probe into Sessions which surrounded whether or not Sessions committed perjury during his confirmation hearing in January 2017, when Sessions testified about his contact with Russian officials. Two months after that, the Washington Post reported encounters that Sessions didn’t disclose during the hearing.

According to a lawyer representing Sessions, the investigation was shut down after Sessions met with investigators from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office:

Two months ago, Sessions was interviewed by Mueller’s team, and the federal inquiry related to his candor during his confirmation process has since been shuttered, according to a lawyer representing Sessions.

“The Special Counsel’s office has informed me that after interviewing the attorney general and conducting additional investigation, the attorney general is not under investigation for false statements or perjury in his confirmation hearing testimony and related written submissions to Congress,” attorney Chuck Cooper told ABC News on Wednesday.

On Friday, Sessions unceremoniously fired McCabe less than two days before he was due to retire and begin receiving his pension. “It is part of this Administration’s ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day,” McCabe said of his firing.

In what’s sure to be the story’s main takeaway for MAGA types, McCabe authorized the probe after two Senate Democrats, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and then-Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, urged the FBI to do so:

According to the sources, McCabe authorized the criminal inquiry after a top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, and then-Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., wrote a letter in March 2017 to the FBI urging agents to investigate “all contacts” Sessions may have had with Russians, and “whether any laws were broken in the course of those contacts or in any subsequent discussion of whether they occurred.”

It’s unclear how actively federal authorities pursued the matter in the months before Sessions’ interview with Mueller’s investigators. It’s also unclear whether the special counsel may still be pursuing other matters related to Sessions and statements he has made to Congress – or others – since his confirmation.

According to one of ABC News’ sources, Sessions didn’t know about this investigation when he fired McCabe. But ABC News also says that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and “several top Democratic and Republican lawmakers” have been aware of the probe since last year. Hmm.