The head of President Trump’s inaugural committee said Monday that he’s been assured that he isn’t the target of a criminal investigation, despite reports that prosecutors are probing the committee’s finances.

The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported last week that federal prosecutors in New York are examining whether foreign interests made secret, illegal contributions to the inaugural committee.

Inaugural committee chairman Tom Barrack confirmed Monday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office questioned him in 2017 about several topics.

But Barrack said his lawyer reached out to Mueller’s office last week and was assured he was ‘‘not under investigation’’ and that Mueller’s team has no additional questions.

‘‘Information about questions asked about in 2017 does not mean that there is a ‘new investigation,’ ’’ he said in a statement to the Associated Press.

‘‘What it means is that the special counsel’s staff was both professional and comprehensive back in 2017 when I sat for a voluntary interview,’’ Barrack added. ‘‘They have shown themselves to be pretty tenacious when they find something they judge worth pursuing.’’

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment.

The inaugural committee released a statement Friday saying that it has not been contacted by prosecutors or asked to provide documents. It said committee finances were ‘‘fully audited,’’ and the inauguration was ‘‘in full compliance with all applicable laws.’’

Associated Press

DOJ files to halt Trump suit seeking financial documents

The Justice Department is challenging a Maryland federal judge’s decision allowing a case accusing President Trump of profiting off the presidency to go forward.

Justice lawyers want an appeals court to take the case instead.

They filed papers Monday seeking to send the case to the US Court of Appeals in Richmond and have asked to stay proceedings, which include subpoenas seeking Trump business tax returns and documents from 13 Trump corporate entities.

Justice lawyers have said providing those documents would interfere with the president’s duties. Trump’s personal attorney made a similar argument last week.

The lawsuit brought by the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia alleges Trump is violating the Constitution by accepting foreign and domestic government spending at his D.C. hotel.

Associated Press

South Bend mayor moves toward presidential primary

Pete Buttigieg announced Monday that he will not seek a third term as mayor of South Bend, Ind., a move that is expected to presage his attempt to vault from local to presidential politics.

Buttigieg would not be the first mayor to attempt such a jump — nor, likely, even the sole mayor in the 2020 Democratic presidential field. But he would put forth a distinct profile, as a 36-year-old former Rhodes scholar and Afghanistan veteran who is gay and married.

‘‘I know now that the time has come for me to prepare the city for new leadership again,’’ Buttigieg said a news conference at his office.

Asked about his political future, Buttigieg said he doesn’t plan to make an announcement until the new year.

‘‘I don’t think it’s a secret that we’re looking at things,’’ he said, adding that he plans to serve out the remaining year and two weeks in his term.

Buttigieg already has a trip on the books to Iowa. He plans to travel to Des Moines and speak at the Progress Iowa annual holiday party on Thursday along with two other Democrats eyeing the 2020 race, Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Representative Eric Swalwell of California.

For Buttigieg, who unsuccessfully ran last year for chairman of the Democratic National Committee, a White House campaign would provide a chance to shape the debate over the party’s direction and, potentially, expand his future options beyond his Republican-dominated state.

His campaign would likely cast him as a can-do executive who solved problems close to voters’ hearts, including razing vacant homes, attracting new residents, and revitalizing downtown South Bend, a city of just over 100,000 people.

He’s been recognized by GovFresh, an organization that highlights ‘‘public servant innovators’’ and voted him as mayor of the year in 2013 along with then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg is also mulling a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, as is Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Julián Castro, who announced last week that he’s forming a presidential exploratory committee, is the former mayor of San Antonio. Castro also served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration.

Washington Post

GOP Senator Alexander opts against 2020 reelection bid

Republican US Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee announced Monday that he won’t seek reelection in 2020, giving the red state its second open Senate contest in two years.

Alexander said in a news release that he was deeply grateful for being elected to more combined years as governor and senator than anyone else in Tennessee. But the 78-year-old politician said it’s now time for someone else to have that privilege. He will serve out his final two years.

With Alexander’s decision, popular Republican Governor Bill Haslam told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that he will give ‘‘serious consideration’’ to making a Senate bid. Haslam declined to run for the seat that Republican Senator Bob Corker is vacating and that Republican Senator-elect Marsha Blackburn won in November. Haslam is leaving office in January due to term limits.

Alexander said he made his decision on an August fishing trip in Canada, but waited to announce until the end of the year to ‘‘let it settle and simmer and make sure it was the right decision.’’

On a call Sunday night with President Trump, Alexander said that before he could reveal he wouldn’t run again, Trump pointed to Blackburn’s win and offered to help Alexander serve another two decades. When Alexander broke the news to him, Trump congratulated him.

‘‘He offered the help . . . before I told him that I wasn’t going to run,’’ Alexander told the Associated Press. ‘‘So, I appreciated that.’’

A Maryville, Tenn., native, Alexander was governor from 1979 until 1987, helping to bring the auto industry to the state. He was elected to the Senate in 2002 and reelected in 2008 and 2014.

He developed a reputation as a consensus builder, advancing recent laws to address the opioid crisis and overhaul the way music is licensed and songwriters are paid. He also teamed with Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington to try to stabilize health insurance markets after Republicans failed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, to mixed results.

Alexander was a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 1996 and 2000 and was US education secretary from 1991 to 1993 under George H.W. Bush.

After serving as governor, Alexander was the University of Tennessee’s president from 1988 to 1991.

Associated Press