Trump: I wish I never picked Jeff Sessions as attorney general
Details emerge of US president’s falling out with nation’s top lawyer who has left him ‘frustrated’
DONALD TRUMP yesterday said he wished he had chosen someone other than Jeff Sessions as his attorney general as details of the pair’s behind-thescenes clashes emerged.
The New York Times reported that Mr Trump once attempted to make Mr Sessions take back control of the investigation into Russia’s election meddling by reversing a decision to recuse himself.
The US president was said to have made the request in March 2017, shortly after Mr Sessions stepped back from the inquiry because of questions about his own dealings with Russia.
Mr Sessions refused, prompting an angry response from Mr Trump who reportedly said he wanted loyalty. The Russia investigation continues to hang over his presidency.
The meeting is believed to be being investigated by Robert Mueller, the special counsel who took over the Russia probe and is looking into whether Mr Trump committed obstruction of justice. Mr Sessions remains in Mr Trump’s cabinet but the pair have fallen out spectacularly since the 2016 election.
At the time a senator from Alabama, Mr Sessions became one of the first prominent mainstream politicians to throw their support behind Mr Trump’s presidential bid.
He was named attorney general in Mr Trump’s first cabinet after inauguration but the relationship soured within months.
Chief among Mr Trump’s criticisms was Mr Sessions’s decision to wash his hands of the Russian investigation, which probed alleged ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
Mr Sessions recused himself from the inquiry after criticism of his conversations with Russia’s ambassador before taking office and how open he had been with Congress.
The decision meant oversight of the Russia investigation passed to Rod Rosenstein, Mr Sessions’s deputy. Mr Rosenstein subsequently set up a special counsel to take up the investigation after Mr Trump sacked James Comey, then-fbi director – a decision that considerably escalated the probe.
The New York Times reported that shortly after Mr Sessions had decided to recuse himself last March, Mr Trump attempted to change his mind.
Over dinner at the president’s Mar-alago golf resort in Florida, Mr Trump reportedly said he needed loyalty, berated Mr Sessions and urged him to reverse the decision. Mr Sessions refused.
The report is significant given Mr Trump is facing scrutiny over whether he obstructed justice by attempting to influence the direction of the Russia investigation.
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor now a lawyer for Mr Trump, was quoted in article playing down the sig- nificance of the meeting. Mr Giuliani said: “‘Unrecuse’ doesn’t say, ‘Bury the investigation’. It says on the face of it, ‘Take responsibility for it and handle it correctly’.”
Mr Sessions has emerged as a key figure in the inquiry and is said to have undergone an interview with Mr Mueller’s investigators. Mr Trump is also wanted for an interview. In a leaked list of questions Mr Mueller wants to ask the president, eight of the four dozen or so related to Mr Sessions.
The president has done little to hide his frustration about his attorney general. He has reportedly considered sacking Mr Sessions and the pair are said to rarely talk outside of cabinet meetings.
Mr Trump yesterday did nothing to deny the report by The New York Times on his Twitter feed, instead quoting at length a Republican politician saying it was right the president was “frustrated”.
The quote eventually noted that Mr Trump could have “picked somebody else” other than Mr Sessions as attorney general. Mr Trump added: “And I wish I did!”
Told that he could have picked anyone else, Trump said: ‘I wish I did’