A grand jury has issued a subpoena related to Manhattan federal prosecutors’ investigation into Rudy Giuliani, seeking documents from former Rep. Pete Sessions about his dealings with President Trump’s personal lawyer and associates, according to people familiar with the matter.
The subpoena seeks documents related to Mr. Giuliani’s business dealings with Ukraine and his involvement in efforts to oust the U.S. ambassador in Kyiv, as well as any interactions between Mr. Sessions, Mr. Giuliani and four men who were indicted last week on campaign-finance and conspiracy accounts, the people said.
Mr. Sessions’ knowledge of Mr. Giuliani’s dealings is a primary focus of the subpoena, the people said. Mr. Giuliani has denied wrongdoing and said he has had no indication his actions are being investigated by prosecutors.
There also is no indication that Mr. Sessions is a target of the investigation. Mr. Sessions is a longtime friend of Mr. Giuliani whose interactions with two of Mr. Giuliani’s associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, was detailed in the indictment unsealed last week.
Matt Mackowiak, a spokesman for Mr. Sessions, said he is cooperating with the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office and would be “providing documents to their office related to this matter over the next couple of weeks as requested.”
The subpoena of the former congressman offers a window into the investigation by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office into the business dealings of Mr. Giuliani in Ukraine, including his finances, meetings and work for a city mayor there. Investigators have examined his bank records and have questioned witnesses about him since at least August.
The probe comes as House Democrats continue to interview former and current administration officials and others in their impeachment inquiry focusing on efforts by Mr. Trump, Mr. Giuliani and others to press Ukraine to mount investigations that could benefit the president politically. Among other things, they wanted Ukrainian officials to investigate activities by former Vice President Joe Biden, a potential 2020 election rival to Mr. Trump, and his son Hunter Biden, who was on the board of an energy company in Ukraine. No evidence has emerged that the Bidens, who have denied wrongdoing, have done anything improper.
Mr. Trump has denied acting inappropriately.
Prosecutors want to know more about Mr. Giuliani’s role in an alleged conspiracy involving two associates indicted last week on campaign finance and conspiracy charges.
The subpoena, according to the people familiar with the matter, seeks documents from Mr. Sessions related to his and Mr. Giuliani’s dealings with Messrs. Parnas and Fruman.
Mr. Sessions met at least once with Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman, a person familiar with the meeting said.
Mr. Sessions, a Republican, earlier this month began running for Congress again in Texas. He lost his 2018 race for reelection in a different Texas district. In a statement last week, he said he did not have knowledge of the scheme described in the indictment. He said he has been friends with Mr. Giuliani for more than three decades, and he did not know “what his business or legal activities in Ukraine have been.”
According to the indictment, Messrs. Parnas and Fruman in the spring of 2018 committed to raising $20,000 or more for Mr. Sessions, referenced as “Congressman-1.”
Around that time, Mr. Parnas met with the congressman and sought his help to remove Marie Yovanovitch from her position as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, the indictment alleged.
In May 2018, Mr. Sessions wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asking for Ms. Yovanovitch’s removal, saying he had been told the ambassador was biased against the president. Ms. Yovanovitch denied any such allegations in testimony before House committees last week.
In June 2018, Mr. Fruman made two contributions of $2,700 to Mr. Sessions’ campaign, one of them in Mr. Parnas’s name, the indictment alleged. Mr. Sessions also benefited from $3 million in independent expenditures by a pro-Trump super PAC, America First Action, to which Messrs. Parnas and Fruman had donated, according to the indictment.
In September 2018, weeks before the election, Mr. Giuliani headlined a fundraiser for Mr. Sessions’ campaign.
Mr. Sessions said in a statement last week that Messrs. Parnas and Fruman made no concrete request that he write Mr. Pompeo and that he did so after he heard complaints about Ms. Yovanovitch from “several congressional colleagues.”
Mr. Trump ordered the ambassador’s removal in the spring of 2019, after Mr. Giuliani and others said Ms. Yovanovitch was blocking efforts to push Ukraine to investigate Mr. Biden and other matters, according to people familiar with the situation.
—Rebecca Davis O’Brien contributed to this article.
Write to Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com
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