Story highlights The senators told CNN it was wrong for Trump to say what he did about the special counsel

One said it wasn't clear if Trump understood the attorney general wasn't his personal lawyer

Washington (CNN) A group of Republican senators criticized President Donald Trump on Thursday, a day after the President rebuked top law enforcement officials in an interview with The New York Times.

"The attorney general is America's top law enforcement official," one GOP senator said. "It's unclear if he understands that, and that's pretty disturbing."

The senator was referring to Trump's comment in the Times' interview that he would not have hired Attorney General Jeff Sessions had he known Sessions would go on to recuse himself from investigations related to the 2016 campaign. The senator said Trump seemed to be thinking of the law enforcement heads as his personal employees.

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"One gets the impression that the President doesn't understand or he willfully disregards the fact that the attorney general and law enforcement in general -- they are not his personal lawyers to defend and protect him," one GOP senator told CNN. "He has (his) own personal lawyers, and of course, the White House has the White House counsel's office."

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