Giuliani: Sessions 'made the right decision' to recuse himself

Attorney General Jeff Sessions “made the right decision under the rules of the Justice Department” to recuse himself from federal probes involving Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Monday.

Giuliani, a former prosecutor and current cybersecurity adviser to President Donald Trump, also swatted down reports that he could replace the attorney general, who Trump called "beleaguered” on Monday.


Giuliani, who spoke to CNN after his flight landed in Washington on Monday afternoon, was considered for a Cabinet post during the transition. He once remarked that “there’s probably nobody that knows the Justice Department better than me” but ultimately chose to stay outside the administration after bowing out of the secretary of state sweepstakes.

Sessions, who was confirmed as the head of the Justice Department in February, announced in March that he had accepted his staff’s recommendation to recuse himself from any matters related to the 2016 election, given his role as a Trump campaign surrogate. Sessions was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump.

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But Trump has publicly vented his frustrations with Sessions over his recusal, a step that allowed his deputy to name a special counsel after the president fired FBI Director James Comey. Special counsel Robert Mueller is leading the federal investigation, while congressional committees are conducting parallel probes.

Trump on Monday morning tried to turn the attention to his vanquished general election opponent, Hillary Clinton, but prodded his attorney general in the process.

“So why aren't the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?” he tweeted.

His comments follow last week’s Oval Office interview with The New York Times, in which Trump told the newspaper that his attorney general “never should have recused himself,” especially without consulting the president first.

“If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, ‘Thanks, Jeff, but I can’t, you know, I’m not going to take you,’” Trump said in Wednesday’s wide-ranging interview. “It’s extremely unfair, and that’s a mild word, to the president.”

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Thursday that Trump has confidence in his attorney general. Asked if Trump wanted Sessions resign, Sanders said, “I think you know this president well enough to know that if he wanted somebody to take an action, he would make that clear.”