Trump Says He Should Not Have Picked Sessions as Attorney General

Trump said he wouldn’t have appointed Sessions if he’d known he would recuse himself from the Russia investigation.

US President Donald Trump and Jess Sessions. 

(Photo: AP/The Quint)

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would not have appointed Jeff Sessions as attorney general if he had known Sessions would recuse himself from the Russia investigation, according to a New York Times interview.

Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else.

Trump to <i>Times</i>

Sessions recused himself in March from the probe into allegations of Russia's meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and possible ties between Russians and the Trump campaign. He did so after failing to disclose at his confirmation hearing that he had held meetings last year with Russia’s ambassador.

A Sessions spokesman declined a Reuters request for comment.

There were media reports last month that Sessions, a former US senator who was an early supporter of Trump’s campaign, had offered to resign because of tensions with Trump over the recusal.

Trump also told The New York Times that a conversation he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a dinner at the Group of 20 summit in Germany earlier this month lasted about 15 minutes and was mostly about “pleasantries”. That conversation has sparked controversy because it was only disclosed on Tuesday.

Ian Bremmer, the president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, has said the meeting lasted about an hour.

(We all love to express ourselves, but how often do we do it in our mother tongue? Here's your chance! This Independence Day, khul ke bol with BOL – Love your Bhasha. Sing, write, perform, spew poetry – whatever you like – in your mother tongue. Send us your BOL at [e-mail] or WhatsApp it to 9910181818.)