Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe Andrew George McCabeGraham: Comey to testify about FBI's Russia probe, Mueller declined invitation Barr criticizes DOJ in speech declaring all agency power 'is invested in the attorney general' GOP votes to authorize subpoenas, depositions in Obama-era probe MORE oversaw a federal investigation last year into whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsGOP set to release controversial Biden report Trump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez call for convention to decide Puerto Rico status MORE was fully forthcoming in his testimony to Congress about his contacts with Russian officials, ABC News reported Wednesday.

Top GOP and Democratic lawmakers learned about the probe last year in a private briefing with McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Rod RosensteinDOJ kept investigators from completing probe of Trump ties to Russia: report Five takeaways from final Senate Intel Russia report FBI officials hid copies of Russia probe documents fearing Trump interference: book MORE. The probe has since been closed.

Sessions was not aware of the investigation when he fired McCabe on Friday night, according to ABC News. Sessions fired the FBI official for not being fully forthcoming with investigators and for making an unauthorized disclosure to the media.

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McCabe has claimed that he was fired to try and undermine special counsel Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerCNN's Toobin warns McCabe is in 'perilous condition' with emboldened Trump CNN anchor rips Trump over Stone while evoking Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting The Hill's 12:30 Report: New Hampshire fallout MORE's probe into Russian election interference.

During a confirmation hearing, Sessions had testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had not been in contact with Russian officials about the 2016 election and that he was “not aware” of any other Trump campaign associates being in touch with the Russian government.

However, The Washington Post reported two months after Sessions’s testimony that the then-Alabama senator had met with the Russian ambassador during the campaign. He said that he did not recall the meeting at first, but did so after reading news coverage about the contact.



McCabe reportedly opened the probe after then-Sen. Al Franken Alan (Al) Stuart FrankenGOP Senate candidate says Trump, Republicans will surprise in Minnesota Peterson faces fight of his career in deep-red Minnesota district Getting tight — the psychology of cancel culture MORE (D-Minn.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy Patrick Joseph LeahyBattle over timing complicates Democratic shutdown strategy Hillicon Valley: Russia 'amplifying' concerns around mail-in voting to undermine election | Facebook and Twitter take steps to limit Trump remarks on voting | Facebook to block political ads ahead of election Top Democrats press Trump to sanction Russian individuals over 2020 election interference efforts MORE (D-Vt.) sent a letter to the FBI asking the agency to investigate all of Sessions's contacts with Russians and to determine "whether any laws were broken in the course of those contacts or in any subsequent discussion of whether they occurred."



Sessions had recused himself from the Russia investigation at the time of the criminal probe into his statements.



Mueller's team interviewed Sessions two months ago, Sessions's lawyer said.

Sessions has said that he did meet with the Russian official, but that none of the meetings had anything to do with the Trump campaign, to which he acted as a foreign policy adviser.

"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," Sessions’s attorney, Chuck Cooper, told ABC News.

A representative for McCabe declined to comment to ABC.