In a tweet Thursday, Yates called the DOJ’s independence “a bedrock principle of our democracy.”

POTUS attack on Russia recusal reveals yet again his violation of the essential independence of DOJ, a bedrock principle of our democracy. — Sally Yates (@SallyQYates) July 20, 2017

In an interview Wednesday with The New York Times, Trump said he “would have picked somebody else” had he known Sessions would recuse himself.

“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. 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 earlier this year from the multiple investigations into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 election.

The recusal came after The Washington Post discovered that Sessions did not disclose at least two meetings with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during his confirmation process to become attorney general. The then-senator was also one of Trump’s first prominent supporters during his presidential campaign.

Trump dismissed Yates in January, after she refused to defend his executive order banning travel and immigration from several majority-Muslim countries, determining that the ban was unlawful.

Aaron Bernstein / Reuters In May, former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates that around the same time, she had warned White House officials about then-national security adviser Mike Flynn’s ties to Russia.

In May, she testified before the Senate that around the same time, she had warned White House officials about then-national security adviser Mike Flynn’s ties to Russia. Flynn resigned in February after misleading the administration about his interactions with Russian officials about sanctions.

Bharara also weighed in on Trump’s comments late Wednesday, joking that Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein could join him as law professors at New York University and “teach employment law together.”

I am looking forward to having Jeff Sessions & Rod Rosenstein as colleagues @nyulaw soon. Maybe we can teach employment law together. — Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) July 20, 2017