Trump: ‘I Would Have Picked Somebody Else’ If I Knew Sessions Would Recuse Himself from Russia Probe

During an interview with the New York Times released on Wednesday, President Trump stated that if he knew Attorney General Jeff Sessions would recuse himself from the Russia probe, he never would have nominated Sessions to be AG in the first place.

Trump said, “Sessions, gets the job. Right after he gets the job, he recuses himself.”

Trump was then asked if this recusal was a mistake. He answered, “Well, Sessions should have never recused himself. And if he would — 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 added that Sessions didn’t give him a heads-up on the recusal, and that doing so after taking the job was “frankly, I think is very unfair to the president. 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 can’t — I’m not going to take you.’ It’s extremely unfair, and that’s a mild word, to the president.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett