WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump again indicated he was dissatisfied with his attorney general, following comments over the summer in which he criticized Jeff Sessions and suggested he might fire him.

The president also said at a White House dinner Monday that he had the upper hand in his dispute with the National Football League, according to guests at the gathering.

Mr. Trump expressed frustration with Mr. Sessions’ March decision to recuse himself from the Justice Department’s probe of Russian election meddling, according to three people at the dinner for conservative leaders.

“You could feel it dripping with venom,” one dinner guest said of Mr. Trump’s comment. “It was something else.”

Others in the room characterized the conversation about Mr. Sessions as less tense. “He’s candid, which shows respect for his guests,” said American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp.


“It was friends getting together and dishing on politics and the state of the country,” said Mr. Schlapp, whose wife, Mercedes Schlapp, works in the White House communications office. He called the dinner “cordial.”

Mr. Trump was answering a guest’s question on a policy technicality when his mood appeared to shift, the people said. He advised the guest to reach out to the attorney general on the issue, then said of Mr. Sessions: “He recused himself on Russia, which he should never have done.”

Mr. Trump also suggested Mr. Sessions was ineffective at his job. “He basically told everyone in the room to go tell Sessions to get moving” on various policy fronts, one person said.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, President Trump continued to criticize Attorney General Jeff Sessions over his decision to recuse himself from any Russia related investigations. WSJ's Gerald F. Seib reviews what Mr. Trump said and explains how the situation may play out. Photo: T. J. Kirkpatrick for WSJ (Originally published July 25, 2017)

Other guests at the dinner included Penny Nance, the chief executive of antiabortion group Concerned Women for America; Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition; and Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society, who advised Mr. Trump earlier this year on selecting a Supreme Court justice.


Mr. Trump also said his feud with the NFL, some of whose players he has spent recent days attacking for kneeling in protest during the national anthem, had “really taken off,” according to a person present for the conversation. Mr. Trump’s comments in recent days have sparked protests that are unprecedented in NFL history.

“He was happy. He feels like he’s clearly winning that exchange,” the person said.

A White House spokeswoman said: “We aren’t going to comment about rumors on private conversations.” A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

In March, Mr. Sessions, a former U.S. senator from Alabama and early supporter of Mr. Trump’s presidential effort, said he would remove himself from involvement in any Justice Department investigation related to the 2016 presidential race, following the disclosure that he had had conversations with the Russian ambassador while advising the Trump campaign.


In addition, Justice Department regulations required him to recuse himself from any investigations involving political campaigns to which he served as an adviser.

Mr. Trump has blamed Mr. Sessions’ recusal from the probe for the Justice Department’s appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel in charge of the investigation, which the president has called a “witch hunt.” Mr. Mueller’s appointment came days after Mr. Trump fired Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, who had been heading the probe.

In July, Mr. Trump criticized his attorney general’s leadership of the FBI, called him “beleaguered” and declined to say in an interview with The Wall Street Journal whether he would fire him. He also told the New York Times he never would have hired Mr. Sessions had he known he would recuse himself from the Russia probe.

During Monday’s dinner, Mr. Trump also discussed health care and tax reform. He said the White House was still “very serious” about passing Republicans’ latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, although the legislation suffered a likely death blow earlier in the day when Sen. Susan Collins’s declared opposition left it without enough votes to pass.


Mr. Trump called Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), who said last week he wouldn’t support the health-care bill, “disgraceful.”

The conversation also turned to vacant court seats. Mr. Trump’s guests praised him and his administration for the successful confirmation process of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch earlier this year.

Write to Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com