NEW: Jeff Sessions caved to Trump’s authoritarian demands. We obtained the signed directive from Sessions to a federal prosecutor ordering a wide-ranging investigation of Hillary Clinton. https://t.co/whiwbVudOm pic.twitter.com/1KGGrMIunG — American Oversight (@weareoversight) March 9, 2019

A newly revealed letter shows that former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions really did order a review into the investigations into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the Uranium One sale, and the FBI’s inquiry into Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state, says a watchdog group.

“In consultation with the Deputy Attorney General, I have requested that you review the matters referenced in the enclosed November 13, 2017, letter from Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte and make recommendations to me or the Deputy Attorney General, as appropriate,” Sessions wrote to U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah John Huber in a letter obtained by American Oversight, a non-profit that describes itself as a non-partisan watchdog. The group said that Sessions “caved to Trump’s authoritarian demands,” to investigate Clinton.

NEW: Jeff Sessions caved to Trump’s authoritarian demands. We obtained the signed directive from Sessions to a federal prosecutor ordering a wide-ranging investigation of Hillary Clinton. https://t.co/whiwbVudOm pic.twitter.com/1KGGrMIunG — American Oversight (@weareoversight) March 9, 2019

Trump lambasted Clinton as if she was a criminal during the 2016 presidential election. American Oversight said that Matthew Whitaker, who later followed Sessions as Acting Attorney General, delivered it as an email attachment.

American Oversight obtained the document as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. According to the group, government lawyers tried in November 2018 to get the complaint dismissed by saying there was no record of written directives. This turned out to have been false.

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment.

[Image via Rune Hellestad/Getty Images]

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