President Trump's New York Times Interview

New York Times: Citing Recusal, Trump Says He Wouldn’t Have Hired Sessions

WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Wednesday that he never would have appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions had he known Mr. Sessions would recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation that has dogged his presidency, calling the decision “very unfair to the president.”

In a remarkable public break with one of his earliest political supporters, Mr. Trump complained that Mr. Sessions’s decision ultimately led to the appointment of a special counsel that should not have happened. “Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else,” Mr. Trump said.

In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, the president also accused James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director he fired in May, of trying to leverage a dossier of compromising material to keep his job. Mr. Trump criticized both the acting F.B.I. director who has been filling in since Mr. Comey’s dismissal and the deputy attorney general who recommended it. And he took on Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel now leading the investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s election.

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WNU Editor: Overall .... I found there were a lot of soft-ball questions in this New York Times interview. But from the interview itself I found this part interesting .... Trump Thinks Comey Was Trying To Blackmail Him (Vanity Fair). And considering the fact that we now know that former FBI Director Comey was leaking information to the New York Times .... the President probably has a point. As for his opinions on Attorney general Sessions .... he appointed him .... he has to live with the consequences. And as for Special Counsel Robert Mueller .... it is clear that as far as President Trump is concerned .... he did nothing wrong, and that Russia did not influenced Americans voters last year. And to say that he is exasperated by the entire process is an understatement. On a side note .... it looks like President Trump has at least one sympathiser in the US Senate .... Sen. Paul backs Trump's frustration with Sessions' recusal (Politico)

President Trump's New York Times Interview

Excerpts From The Times’s Interview With Trump (NYT)
Citing Recusal, Trump Says He Wouldn’t Have Hired Sessions -- NYT
Trump lashes out as presidency hits six-month mark -- AFP
Trump sets red line for Mueller on Russia probe, warns he'll expose 'conflicts' -- FOX news
Trump says Mueller could cross a 'red line' by digging into his finances — and he now appears to be doing just that -- Business Insider