FBI probed Jeff Sessions in 2017 after Democrat senators' request
Declassified documents show the investigation was based on a letter from Patrick Leahy and Al Franken and a liberal news article
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Photograph: United States Department of Justice via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
What this story says
- The FBI opened a probe into Jeff Sessions on 10 May 2017 at the request of two Democrat senators, Patrick Leahy and Al Franken.
- The investigation, codenamed 'March Toll', was based on a letter from the senators and a liberal news article, and closed in May 2018 without charges.
- Declassified documents reveal the FBI kept the probe in a sensitive compartmented facility and categorised it as a 'sensitive investigative matter'.
- None of the left- or centre-rated outlets tracked by MediaBias News carried the story after the documents were declassified.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 7 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. Coverage measured .
Trust
62/100
Craft
51/100
Hype
41/100
7 sources · methodology
Thin on the left so far
None of the 7 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
The FBI opened an investigation into then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions on 10 May 2017, one day after President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. The probe, codenamed 'March Toll', was launched at the request of two Democrat senators, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Al Franken of Minnesota. The senators had written to Comey on 20 March 2017, alleging that Sessions had made false statements during his Senate confirmation hearing about contacts with Russian officials.
The investigation was based on the senators' letter and a liberal news article, according to declassified documents. The FBI classified the probe as a 'sensitive investigative matter' and kept the case file in a sensitive compartmented information facility at its Washington Field Office. The documents show the FBI received the senators' letter on 10 May 2017 and opened the investigation the same day.
The probe focused on whether Sessions had been truthful in his January 2017 confirmation hearing testimony. Leahy had asked Sessions in writing whether he had been 'in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election'. Sessions answered 'No'. Franken later asked a similar question, to which Sessions replied that he had not had communications with Russians. The senators called Sessions' testimony 'discernibly false' and 'unequivocally false' in their letter to Comey.
Sessions met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in 2016 while serving as a U.S. senator from Alabama. In a 6 March 2017 letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sessions said he had told the truth in his confirmation hearing. The FBI closed the investigation in May 2018 after finding no evidence of false statements or perjury. Aaron Zebley, a lawyer in the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, wrote that the probe was closed after interviewing Sessions and conducting additional investigation.
What the coverage left out
None of the left- or centre-rated outlets tracked by MediaBias News carried the story after the documents were declassified. The right-rated digests and report did not mention that Sessions had recused himself from the Russia investigation into Trump before the probe was opened, as reported by WND. The digests also omitted that the special counsel's office had advised Sessions' private counsel of the investigation's closure in March 2018.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 5 times, most recently on 11 Aug 2026, 05:00, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated left has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Centre
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated centre has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Right
7 rated outlets
- All seven right-rated digests and the single full report led on the FBI's decision to open the probe at the behest of Democrat senators. The WND report, the only full article in the sample, described the investigation as part of a 'Deep State targeting' of Sessions and linked it to the broader Russia collusion narrative. It quoted the FBI's internal memo stating that a 'crime or threat to national security has or may have occurred' and named the senators' letter as the trigger.
- The digests from Breitbart, The Last Refuge, Washington Examiner, [your]NEWS, ussanews.com and The Daily Signal all carried the date the probe was opened, the senators' names, and the fact that the investigation was based on their letter. The Breitbart digest added that a HuffPost article was folded into the case file. The Last Refuge digest noted the probe was opened the day after Comey was fired and mentioned the codename 'March Toll'.
- The WND report quoted the senators' letter calling Sessions' testimony 'discernibly false' and 'unequivocally false'. It also quoted Aaron Zebley's 2018 memo stating that the special counsel's office had closed the investigation after finding no evidence of false statements or perjury. The report named the FBI official who oversaw the probe, E.W. 'Bill' Priestap, and linked him to the broader Russia investigation into Trump.
Read it at the source
7 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Centre
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Right
7- Declassified: FBI Probed Jeff Sessions Using Left-Wing HuffPost Article (opens Breitbart in a new tab)
- FBI Declassifies Investigation of Former AG Jeff Sessions, Codename "March Toll" (opens The Last Refuge in a new tab)
The Last Refuge — is The Last Refuge biased? Our profile of this outlet
- FBI investigated Jeff Sessions one week after Comey's firing: Declassified records (opens Washington Examiner in a new tab)
Washington Examiner — is Washington Examiner biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Declassified documents reveal Democrats’, Deep State targeting of Jeff Sessions in Russia probe (opens WND in a new tab)
- FBI Launched Probe Into Jeff Sessions Based on Democrat Senators’ Letter, Despite Updated Testimony (opens [your]NEWS in a new tab)
[your]NEWS — is [your]NEWS biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Declassified Documents Reveal Democrats’, Deep State Targeting of Sessions in Russia Probe (opens ussanews.com in a new tab)
ussanews.com — is ussanews.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Declassified Docs Show Sessions Targeted in Russia Probe (opens The Daily Signal in a new tab)
The Daily Signal — is The Daily Signal biased? Our profile of this outlet
Not rated
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover FBI probed Jeff Sessions in 2017 after Democrat senators' request?
- Of the 7 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 0% are rated left, 0% are rated centre, 100% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is FBI probed Jeff Sessions in 2017 after Democrat senators' request left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 7 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of FBI probed Jeff Sessions in 2017 after Democrat senators' request biased?
- FBI probed Jeff Sessions in 2017 after Democrat senators' request is one event reported by 7 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting FBI probed Jeff Sessions in 2017 after Democrat senators' request?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered FBI probed Jeff Sessions in 2017 after Democrat senators' request?
- 7 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- Why did the FBI open a probe into Jeff Sessions?
- The FBI opened a probe into Jeff Sessions on 10 May 2017 after two Democrat senators, Patrick Leahy and Al Franken, wrote to then-FBI Director James Comey alleging Sessions had made false statements about contacts with Russian officials. The investigation was based on the senators' letter and a liberal news article.
- What was the outcome of the FBI's investigation into Jeff Sessions?
- The FBI closed its investigation into Jeff Sessions in May 2018 after finding no evidence of false statements or perjury. Aaron Zebley, a lawyer in the special counsel's office, wrote that the probe was closed after interviewing Sessions and conducting additional investigation.
- Which outlets reported the declassified documents on the Sessions probe?
- Seven right-rated outlets reported the declassified documents, including WND, Breitbart, The Last Refuge, Washington Examiner, [your]NEWS, ussanews.com and The Daily Signal. No left- or centre-rated outlet tracked by MediaBias News carried the story.
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
