Trump: It's 'very unfair to the president' that Sessions recused himself from Russia probe

Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

In an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, President Trump didn't hold back while talking about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying that if Sessions had told him he would recuse himself from leading the investigation into Russian election meddling, he never would have appointed him to the position.

"Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself, which frankly I think is very unfair to the president," he said. "How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, 'Thanks, Jeff, but I'm not going to take you.' It's extremely unfair — and that's a mild word — to the president." He also accused Sessions of giving "some bad answers" during his Senate confirmation hearings, primarily his denial of ever meeting Russians during the campaign, despite two meetings with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.