Story highlights CNN previously reported Sessions offered to resign

Trump has publicly blamed Sessions for the appointment of the special counsel investigation

Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump called Attorney General Jeff Sessions an "idiot" to his face and said he should resign in May, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Sessions, an advocate for hardline policies on immigration and criminal justice, ultimately stayed on despite the humiliating Oval Office session with Trump, the Times reported, citing current and former administration officials as well as others briefed.

Trump berated Sessions, the Times said, during a May 17 meeting with his top advisers to consider replacements for former FBI Director James Comey, who Trump had fired earlier that month. During the meeting, White House counsel Don McGahn received a call from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, where he learned Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel for the investigation into potential coordination between Trump's associates and Russia to influence the 2016 election.

The Times report said Trump lashed out in response to that news.

A source told CNN in June that Sessions offered to resign following a series of heated exchanges with the President. At the time, the White House declined to say Trump had confidence in Sessions. The Justice Department declined Thursday to comment on the Times' story.

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