Trump Wishes He Hadn’t Picked Jeff Sessions For Attorney General

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Wednesday he regretted choosing Jeff Sessions as attorney general, a continuation of the President’s frustrations over Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.

Rep.Trey Gowdy, “I don’t think so, I think what the President is doing is expressing frustration that Attorney General Sessions should have shared these reasons for recusal before he took the job, not afterward. If I were the President and I picked someone to be the country’s….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018

….chief law enforcement officer, and they told me later, ‘oh by the way I’m not going to be able to participate in the most important case in the office, I would be frustrated too…and that’s how I read that – Senator Sessions, why didn’t you tell me before I picked you…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018

….There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!” And I wish I did!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018

Quoting Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, who noted on CBS earlier Wednesday that Trump “could have picked somebody else” for the position, Trump tweeted, “I wish I did!”

Gowdy was responding to a question about whether Trump may have obstructed justice in reportedly asking Sessions in March 2017 to reverse his decision to recuse himself in the probe, as The New York Times reported Tuesday. Sessions, a top Trump campaign surrogate, made the decision after it was revealed that he had contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the US during the 2016 election.

The South Carolina Republican said he believed Trump was “expressing frustration” that Sessions should have shared his reasons for recusal before accepting the role of attorney general.

Trump has frequently criticized Sessions over his recusal. In an interview with The New York Times last July, the President said he would not have chosen Sessions to be his attorney general had he known Sessions would recuse himself over matters related to the 2016 presidential campaign.