Trump Says He Wouldn’t Have Picked Sessions If He Knew He’d Recuse Himself

President Trump said he never would have picked Attorney General Jeff Sessions if he’d known he would recuse himself in the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian meddling.

In a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times Wednesday, Mr. Trump also accused fired FBI Director James Comey of trying to use a dossier of compromising information as leverage to keep his job. The interview is likely to only add fuel to the Russia story, even as the White House attempts to downplay it and focus on things like health care and jobs.

“Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself, which frankly I think is very unfair to the president,” the president said in the 50-minute interview. “How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, ‘Thanks, Jeff, but I’m not going to take you.’ It’s extremely unfair — and that’s a mild word — to the president.”

Sessions declined to comment on the story.

Mr. Trump also said he believes Comey told him about the dossier to make it clear he had leverage over the president. Mr. Trump fired Comey in May, and the White House offered conflicting explanation for his removal. (Read more from “Trump Says He Wouldn’t Have Picked Sessions If He Knew He’d Recuse Himself” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.