Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended himself against recent criticism from President Trump.
While appearing Friday on Fox News’s The Story with Martha MacCallum, Sessions responded to Trump’s most recent attacks, in which the president referred to him as a “disaster.”
“Unlike Attorney General Barr, I had an official role in that campaign. I was with the president many times as we traveled the country. I was chairman of the national security committee, officially reported to the FEC. So, when the rules say you can’t investigate a campaign that you’re a part of, it clearly applied to me. I did the right thing. I cannot back down from that,” Sessions said, arguing that Barr is not restricted as he was in his government role.
Additionally, Sessions said it would have been a “catastrophe” for him to intercede on the FBI’s investigation of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn because it would prevent him later from having control of the Justice Department.
“I think it would have been a total disaster for President Trump to try to slam that down, violate the law, not do the right thing, and then suppress an investigation.”
On Friday morning, Trump said he was always ambivalent to nominate Sessions as attorney general, but did so because of his early support.
“I didn’t want to make him attorney general, but he was the first senator to endorse me. So, I felt a little bit of an obligation,” Trump told Fox News. “He came to see me four times, just begging me to be attorney general. He wasn’t equipped to be attorney general, but he just wanted it, wanted it, wanted it. He was from a state that I love: Alabama. You know, I won Alabama by a tremendous margin.”
“He wanted it, and I said, ‘Alright, Jeff.’ You know, he was a smaller version of that in Alabama for a little while. He was a very average guy, I find out. But, he goes in … he was so bad in his nomination proceedings. I should have gotten rid of him there,” Trump also said.
