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Friday, April 19, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Trump Says He Wishes He Never Hired Sessions

President Donald Trump said Wednesday morning he wishes he never picked Jeff Sessions to be his attorney general.

(CN) - President Donald Trump said Wednesday morning he wishes he never picked Jeff Sessions to be his attorney general.

In a series of tweets that quoted GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy, who had appeared on the CBS "This Morning" television program moments before, Trump agreed with the South Carolina Republican's assertion that Sessions should have told the president before his appointment that he would recuse himself from overseeing the probe into the Trump campaign's possible collusion with Russians prior to the 2016 election.

"There are lots of really lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else," Gowdy said.

To which the president added, "And I wish I did!"

Gowdy's comments and the president's tweets come on the heels of a New York Times report that said in March 2017 Trump asked Sessions to rescind his recusal decision in a bid to rein in the ongoing investigation.

Instead, the investigation is being overseen by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who not only appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller, but gave him wide latitude to determine the investigative avenues he wants to explore.

Trump, the Times said Tuesday, believes Sessions never would have appointed a special counsel.

Trump has repeatedly lambasted his attorney general since taking office in January 2017, and their relationship appears not to have improved over time.

Categories / Government, Law, National, Politics

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