In a surprising attack on one of his staunch supporters, US President Donald Trump harshly criticised his appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia probe, reports the Washington Post.
In an interview with the New York Times on Wednesday, Trump expressed his frustration at the ongoing probe investigating alleged ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian administration in the 2016 presidential elections. He also suggested that he would not have appointed Sessions, one of his most loyal supporters, if he had known Sessions would have stepped aside.
“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.
“Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself, which frankly I think is very unfair to the president,” he added. “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’m not going to take you.’ It’s extremely unfair — and that’s a mild word — to the president.”
Sessions recused himself from the probe citing his involvement with the Trump campaign prior to the election, leaving the probe in the hands of Deputy Attorney General Rod J Rosenstein. Trump’s comments suggest that he had hoped Sessions would manage the probe, which has called the legitimacy of Trump's presidency into question in recent months.
The investigation has drawn further public attention after the New York Times reported that Donald Trump Jr met with representatives of the Russian government who offered compromising information on Democrat Hilary Clinton.
The president's comments were met with strong remarks from other members of the Justice Department.
Former US attorney in New York, Preet Bharara, who was fired by Trump, tweeted: “The President today effectively asked Sessions for his resignation. Will he resign or insist on being fired?”
Robert Raben, a former assistant attorney general for the Office of Legislative Affairs during the Bill Clinton administration, said: “The president plays with fire when he attacks his military, law enforcement and Justice people. They are the bulwark of our safety. Demeaning them harms all of us.”
Matthew Miller, a former Justice Department spokesman in the Obama adminstration, said the country appeared “headed for a massive crisis" and called it "an attack on the very independence of the Justice Department."
"I think what the president is making clear here is he doesn’t believe the Justice Department ought to be able to make its own decisions about whether and how to investigate him," Miller said.
Trump also criticised other people involved with the probe during the Times interview, including Rosenstein, Special Counsel Robert S Mueller III, and former FBI director James B Comey. He suggested that members of the probe had conflicts of interests, and that the odds were against him. Trump specifically pointed to Mueller, former FBI director, and currently appointed to lead the investigation, saying that he had considered Mueller as a replacement for Comey.
“He was up here, and he wanted the job,” Trump said. “After he was named special counsel, I said, ‘What the hell is this all about?’ Talk about conflicts. But he was interviewing for the job. There were many other conflicts that I haven’t said, but I will at some point.”
Citing Mueller's friendship with Comey in an interview with Fox News in June, Trump said :“Well, he's very, very good friends with Comey, which is very bothersome. I can say that the people that have been hired are all Hillary Clinton supporters, some of them worked for Hillary Clinton.”
“I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous, if you want to know the truth,” he added.
However, on Wednesday, Trump warned that if Mueller's investigation veered into the personal finances of the Trump family, it would cross a line. Although he did not suggest that he would fire Mueller, Trump said it would be a “violation”.
“I think that’s a violation,” Trump said. “Look, this is about Russia.”
Trump also criticised Rosenstein, citing that Rosenstein was from Baltimore and had also served as a federal prosecutor there.
“There are very few Republicans in Baltimore, if any,” Trump said.
Trump also fired fresh accusations against Comey, mentioning a meeting before his inaugration where Comey informed him about a dossier of unsubstantiated derogatory information about him. Trump said that he believed Comey intended to use the document as leverage.
“In my opinion, he shared it so that I would think he had it out there,” Trump said.
Asked by the Times whether he believes Comey intended it to be leverage, Trump replied. “Yeah, I think so. … in retrospect.”
Comey testified that he briefed Trump on the dossier based on the belief in the intelligence community that the incoming president should be informed about the “salacious and unverified” material before it was reported in the press. He was also chosen to provide the briefing alone to prevent further embarrassment to Trump.
“When he brought it to me, I said this is really, made-up junk,” Trump told the Times. “I didn’t think about any of it. I just thought about, man, this is such a phony deal.”
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
