Picked Sessions

Trump: ‘I wish’ I had not picked Sessions for attorney general

By MEL LEONOR

President Donald Trump announced on Twitter on Wednesday that he wished he had picked someone other than Jeff Sessions for attorney general, stoking the long-running animosity between the two men.

Trump’s public dissatisfaction with Sessions began when the attorney general recused himself from the FBI's investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russians meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

On Wednesday, Trump tweeted comments from Rep. Trey Gowdy (R- S.C.) that criticized Sessions and added his own comment that he wished he had not picked Sessions in the first place.

"Rep.Trey Gowdy, 'I don’t think so, I think what the President is doing is expressing frustration that Attorney General Sessions should have shared these reasons for recusal before he took the job, not afterward. If I were the President and I picked someone to be the country’s...." Trump wrote, quoting Gowdy. "....chief law enforcement officer, and they told me later, ‘oh by the way I’m not going to be able to participate in the most important case in the office, I would be frustrated too...and that’s how I read that - Senator Sessions, why didn’t you tell me before I picked you....There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!'"

“And I wish I did!,” Trump added, expressing his own view.

Sessions recused himself from the investigation last year amid revelations that he met twice with the Russian ambassador in 2016, despite telling senators at his confirmation hearing that he had no contacts with the Russians during the campaign. Sessions, an adviser to Trump’s campaign, has denied any wrongdoing.