Tells New York Times he would not have hired Sessions had he known he would recuse from Russia probe

In an Oval Office interview with The New York Times, Trump said Attorney General Jeff Sessions' March 2017 recusal from the Russia investigation was 'very unfair to the president' and that he would have picked someone else for the job had he known Sessions would step aside. Sessions, one of Trump's earliest congressional endorsers during the 2016 campaign, had recused himself after it emerged he failed to disclose meetings with the Russian ambassador during his Senate confirmation testimony; that recusal in turn led to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointing special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump's public denunciation of Sessions marked an escalation in a monthslong pattern of pressure and criticism directed at his own attorney general over a decision Sessions made to comply with conflict-of-interest guidance.

“Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else.” Quote verified against source