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President Donald Trump slammed Attorney General Jeff Sessions in an interview Thursday because “he never took control of the Justice Department” — a shot at his top law enforcement official for recusing himself from the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 race.
“I put in an attorney general that never took control of the Justice Department, Jeff Sessions,” Trump told “Fox and Friends” in a pre-taped interview. “It’s an incredible thing.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized Sessions since he announced last year that he would recuse himself from any federal probe of Russian meddling in the election. His recusal led to the appointment by the Justice Department of special counsel Robert Mueller a month later.
Trump told “Fox and Friends” that “Sessions shouldn’t have recused himself” or at least, “should have told me.”
“He took the job and then he said I’m going to recuse myself,” the president said. “I said, ‘what kind of man is this?’ And by the way, he was on the campaign. The only reason I gave him the job, I felt loyalty. He was an original supporter.”
But when asked whether he would fire Sessions or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who, because of Sessions’ recusal has authority over the Mueller probe, Trump said he wants “to stay uninvolved.”
Mueller’s wide-ranging investigation has so far secured guilty pleas, including from Trump’s former national security adviser, from or indictments of at least 32 people and three Russian firms.
The confluence of bad news immediately prompted chatter of a potential impeachment of Trump if Democrats take back the House in November.
But in his interview Thursday with “Fox and Friends,” Trump said that he were to be impeached, “everybody would be very poor.”
“I don’t know how you can impeach somebody who’s done a great job,” Trump said, adding that if he were to be impeached, the “market would crash.”
“Everybody would be very poor,” he said.