Trump revives criticism of Sessions’ recusal in Russia probe

President Donald Trump on Monday renewed his criticism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal from the Justice Department probe of Russian election meddling in the 2016 election, calling it a “terrible decision” and again suggesting he would not have picked Sessions had he known about his plans.

“The attorney general made a terrible mistake when he did this and when he recused himself,” the president told reporters at the White House on Monday evening, “or he should have certainly let us know if he was going to recuse himself and we would have used a — put a different attorney general in.”


He added: “So he made what I consider to be a very terrible mistake for the country, but you'll figure that out.”

The president has repeatedly rebuked Sessions in public for stepping back from the Justice Department’s Russia investigation.

During an interview with The New York Times last July, Trump called the decision “very unfair to the president” and said he never would have appointed the attorney general if he had known of the steps he would take.

The president’s remarks came on the heels of reporting that the FBI raided several properties linked to Trump’s longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen through a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller.

Breaking News Alerts Get breaking news when it happens — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

In response, Trump blasted the ongoing federal investigation into Russian election interference and ties to Trump campaign associates as a “witch hunt” and a “real disgrace.”

"It’s a disgrace, it’s a frankly real disgrace,” the president said of the raid. “It’s an attack on our country in a true sense. It’s an attack on what we all stand.”

