Trump says appointing Sessions as US attorney general was 'biggest mistake'
US President Donald Trump says naming former Senator Jeff Sessions as his first US attorney general was the 'biggest mistake' of his presidency.
In an interview aired on Sunday with NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ program, Trump said that if he could have one “do-over,” it would be appointing someone other than Sessions to lead the US Justice Department.
“I would say if I had one do over, it would be, I would not have appointed Jeff Sessions to be attorney general ... That was the biggest mistake,” Trump said.
Sessions, the former Republican senator from Alabama and Trump’s election campaign adviser, was one of the Trump administration’s earliest casualties of the Russian election collusion scandal.
Trump forced Sessions to resign in November 2018 after he recused himself from overseeing the Justice Department’s investigation into alleged Russia interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
Moscow allegedly meddled in the 2016 US elections to boost Trump’s chances of defeating his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
After almost three years of investigations, Trump’s presidency is still clouded by the scandal, which continues to be investigated by several committees of the US Congress.
In February 2016, Sessions became the first serving senator to endorse Trump when the New York real estate developer and reality TV host was still a presidential candidate.
During the election campaign, Sessions, a close Trump adviser, met with the Russian Ambassador in the US Sergei Kislyak. Several other Trump’s campaign aides and family members also met with Russians during this period.
In July 2016, the FBI began investigating Russian meddling in the election. In May 2017, US Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to take over the Russia probe from the FBI.
After Trump’s stunning election victory in November 2016, Sessions was rewarded for his loyalty by being nominated to head of the Justice Department, the top US law enforcement official.
Sessions told lawmakers in his Senate confirmation hearings in January 2017 that he had no communication with Russians during the election campaign. A month later, he was confirmed as attorney general.
Only two months afterward Sessions’ campaign ties to Kislyak were reported. Democrats accused him of lying to Congress.
Trump has described the claims about Russian interference a “hoax” and one fabricated by Democrats who are angry they lost the White House to a Republican.
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