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Trump says he wishes he had not picked Sessions for Attorney General

Trump on Wednesday tweeted a quote from Republican congressman Trey Gowdy, who said Sessions should have told Trump before accepting the job that he planned to recuse himself from the investigation.

Credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, May 16, 2018.

President Donald Trump, still nursing resentment against Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, says he wishes he'd picked a different leader of the Justice Department.

Trump on Wednesday tweeted a quote from Republican congressman Trey Gowdy, who said Sessions should have told Trump before accepting the job that he planned to recuse himself from the investigation. It comes amid fresh news reports that Trump had asked Sessions to rescind his recusal.

Rep.Trey Gowdy, “I don’t think so, I think what the President is doing is expressing frustration that Attorney General Sessions should have shared these reasons for recusal before he took the job, not afterward. If I were the President and I picked someone to be the country’s....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018

....chief law enforcement officer, and they told me later, ‘oh by the way I’m not going to be able to participate in the most important case in the office, I would be frustrated too...and that’s how I read that - Senator Sessions, why didn’t you tell me before I picked you.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018

....There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!” And I wish I did!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018

Sessions recused himself for possible conflict of interest, leading to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.

Gowdy told "CBS This Morning" on Wednesday that "there are lots of really good lawyers in the country. He could have picked somebody else."

"I think what the president is doing is expressing frustration that Attorney General Sessions should have shared these reasons for recusal before he took the job. Not afterward." -- @TGowdySC pic.twitter.com/6E5Nvotcix
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) May 30, 2018

Trump added at the end of his tweet: "And I wish I did!"