Trump: Sessions is an 'honest man' and victim of 'a total witch hunt'

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

President Trump admitted in a statement Thursday night that Attorney General Jeff Sessions could have responded to a question posed during his confirmation hearing "more accurately," but blamed Democrats for bringing attention to the fact that Sessions said he never interacted with Russian officials during the campaign when he actually met the Russian ambassador to the United States twice.

"Jeff Sessions is an honest man," Trump said. "He did not say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not intentional." Trump quickly turned his attention elsewhere, claiming that the "whole narrative is a way of saving face for Democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed to win." He went on to accuse Democrats of "overplaying their hand" and "losing their grip on reality," and declared that the "real story is all of the illegal leaks of classified and other information. It is a total witch hunt!" Earlier in the day, Trump said he had "total" confidence in Sessions.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.