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President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Picture: AP
US President Donald Trump has told The New York Times he never would have appointed Jeff Sessions as attorney-general had he known Sessions would recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation.
In an extraordinary denouncement of one of his earliest backers in Washington, Trump said in Wednesday’s interview that Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from all matters related to Russia was “very unfair to the president”.
President Donald Trump has lashed out at jeff Sessions. Picture: APSource:AP
“Sessions should have never recused himself and 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 said.
Sessions’ recusal, announced following revelations he had failed to disclose meetings with Russia’s ambassador to the US, in effect paved the way for the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel.
Attorney-General Jeff Sessions who recused himself from overseeing the Russia investigation. Picture: APSource:AP
Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and potential ties between the Russian government and the Trump campaign has cast a growing cloud on Trump’s administration.
In the interview, Trump also appeared to threaten Mueller, suggesting he had damaging information on the former FBI director.
Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating if Russia colluded in last year's bitter election campaign. Picture: AFPSource:AFP
Trump said Mueller’s selection for the job was a conflict of interest because Trump had interviewed him to serve as the replacement FBI director. “There were many other conflicts that I haven’t said but I will at some point,” Trump said.
He also addressed the previously undisclosed conversation he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a dinner at the G20 summit in Germany.
Trump said the pair spoke for about 15 minutes and said the conversation was “pleasantries more than anything else”, though he said he and Putin also discussed adoption.
Russia had banned Americans from adopting Russian children in response to a 2012 law that allowed the US to impose sanctions on Russians deemed human rights violators.
Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr, says he discussed the same topic with a Russian lawyer at a meeting that has drawn intense scrutiny.