Sessions Plans to Continue Serving as Attorney General Amid Trump's Criticism

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, President Donald Trump said in an interview with New York Times reporters that he would have never nominated Sessions for the post if he knew the then-senator would recuse himself from overseeing the Justice Department’s Russia probe.

Trump derided Sessions’ decision as "very unfair to the president."

"I have the honor of serving as the attorney general. I plan to continue to do so as long as that is appropriate," Sessions said during an event at the Justice Department.

On Thursday, former Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub said on Twitter that the Justice Department's ethics rules required Sessions to recuse himself from the investigation due to his reported contacts with Russian officials while he was an advisor to the Trump election campaign.

Sessions has rejected allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russian officials to affect the outcome of the vote.

Russian officials have also dismissed the allegations claiming the Kremlin had meddled in the 2016 US election, characterizing them as absurd and intended to deflect public attention from pressing domestic issues.