US President Donald Trump, in an exclusive interview with Bloomberg, has alleviated rumors that he wants to fire US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, as media outlets had recently been speculating.
"I just would love to have him do a great job," Trump said of Sessions Thursday. "I'd love to have him look at the other side," he added, reiterating his call to investigate former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the origins of the Russian collusion probe headed by Robert Mueller.
However, Trump admitted that not everything is rainbows and unicorns between him and the attorney general.
"I do question what is Jeff doing," Trump said.
Trump blamed Sessions for not pursuing Republican allegations of strong anti-Trump bias in the Justice Department and the FBI. Speaking in an interview with Fox News on August 23, Trump lamented Sessions's inability to "control" the department, calling it a "a regrettable thing." Trump also added at the time that the Justice Department seems "to go after a lot of Republicans."
While talking to Bloomberg, Trump reiterated his view that the Mueller probe is "illegal."
"I view it differently. I view it as an illegal investigation," Trump said, adding that "great scholars" have said that "there never should have been a special counsel."
After Trump's Fox News interview, Sessions dismissed the president's criticism in a statement, saying, "While I am attorney general, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations."
Senator Lindsey Graham was among those who fueled the rumors that Trump might soon fire Sessions.
"The president's entitled to an attorney general he has faith in, somebody that's qualified for the job, and I think there will come a time, sooner rather than later, where it will be time to have a new face and a fresh voice at the Department of Justice," Graham said in an interview Thursday with NBC. "He [Sessions] is not the only man in the country that can be attorney general. He is a fine man. I'm not asking for him to be fired. But the relationship is not working."