Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara Preetinder (Preet) Singh BhararaDemocratic attorneys criticize House Judiciary Democrats' questioning of Barr Clyburn echoes calls to rename Pettus bridge Support swells for renaming Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma to honor John Lewis after his death MORE said Friday that if a recent report in The New York Times that Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsTrump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez call for convention to decide Puerto Rico status White House officials voted by show of hands on 2018 family separations: report MORE sought negative press coverage of former FBI Director James Comey James Brien ComeyTrump jabs at FBI director over testimony on Russia, antifa Graham: 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' MORE is true, he must be ousted from the Justice Department.

"If true-emphasis on IF- Sessions must go. Now," Bharara, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York who was fired by Trump in March, wrote on Twitter.

If true-emphasis on IF- Sessions must go. Now. "The attorney general wanted one negative article a day in the news media about Mr. Comey, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting."https://t.co/UDfG036fzg — Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) January 5, 2018

The New York Times reported Thursday night that an aide to Sessions had asked a congressional staffer in May for damaging information about Comey, who was fired by President Trump Donald John TrumpHR McMaster says president's policy to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is 'unwise' Cast of 'Parks and Rec' reunite for virtual town hall to address Wisconsin voters Biden says Trump should step down over coronavirus response MORE days later. According to that report, Sessions wanted one negative news story each day about the then-FBI chief.

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Sarah Isgur Flores, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, denied the account described in the Times report.

“This did not happen and would not happen,” she told the Times. “Plain and simple.”

Before his ouster, Comey was leading the law enforcement investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Sessions recused himself from overseeing that investigation in March, after The Washington Post reported that he had failed to disclose meetings with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. during Trump's 2016 campaign.

According to the report, Trump sent a lawyer to lobby Sessions not to recuse himself from the probe, and was furious after he did.

- This report was updated at 1:26 p.m. EST