Judge comments

Sessions: Trump 'probably shouldn't have made' judge comments

By Theodoric Meyer

GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama defended Donald Trump on Sunday after a hard week in which top Republicans lashed out at Trump over his comments that a federal judge was biased against him because he was Hispanic even as he acknowledged that Trump "probably shouldn't have" said what he did.

"It was a rough week, because it got him off message," Sessions, the first Republican senator to endorse Trump, told Bret Baier on "Fox News Sunday."

House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and dozens of Republican senators and representatives across the country criticized Trump for saying Judge Gonzalo Curiel's Mexican heritage should disqualify him from handling a lawsuit against Trump over Trump University. (Curiel is Mexican-American but was born in Indiana.) Ryan called Trump's remark "the textbook definition of a racist comment," and GOP Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois withdrew his endorsement.

Sessions acknowledged the difficult position in which the presumptive GOP presidential nominee had put other Republicans, saying his comments "put members of Congress having to answer questions they don't like to answer."

"It was just not the best of weeks," Sessions added. But Trump is ready to move on now.

"It was one off-the-cuff comment that he probably shouldn't have made," Sessions said. "He's explained it, and I've said he's gonna stay off this subject."

But Baier pushed back on Sessions' characterization of Trump's remarks.

"Not to interrupt, but he did say it numerous times in a couple of interviews, and he was pressed on it," Baier said.

Sessions responded: "It was something he was irritated about because he felt he was not being fairly treated in that lawsuit."

Sessions also went after Mitt Romney for criticizing Trump on Friday.

"He's an outlier on this," Sessions said of the 2012 GOP presidential nominee. "The leadership in the House and the Senate have endorsed Donald Trump."