In the interview published on Wednesday, Trump slammed Sessions on his performance as the nation’s top law enforcement officer. “I don’t have an attorney general. It’s very sad,” he told The Hill.
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Trump has been critical of Sessions since the attorney general recused himself in 2017 from the investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Sessions said should not take part in an investigation into Trump’s campaign.
In the interview, however, Trump says he’d been frustrated with his attorney general pick even before the investigation. “He was the first senator that endorsed me. And he wanted to be attorney general, and I didn’t see it. But he came very strongly; he really wanted to be. And, I let him be,” Trump said, noting that during the nomination process Sessions did “very poorly.”
"He was mixed up and confused, and people that worked with him for, you know, a long time in the Senate were not nice to him, but he was giving a very confusing answer," Trump said of Sessions’ confirmation process, noting that he won the position by one vote.
Asked whether Trump was planning to replace the attorney general, the US president said “we’ll see.” He did call his predicament “a very unfair thing.”
“It’s very sad. I’m not happy at the border, I’m not happy with numerous things, not just this,” Trump said.
Later, in a brief interview Wednesday at the White House, Trump confirmed that he was “disappointed” but relented slightly. “I'm disappointed in the attorney general for numerous reasons but we have an attorney general. I'm disappointed in the attorney general for many reasons and you understand that,” he said before leaving for North Carolina.