U.S. President Donald Trump told The New York Times in an interview Wednesday that he never would have appointed Jeff Sessions as attorney general had he known Sessions would recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation. "Sessions should have never recused himself," Trump told the paper, "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." In the interview, Trump also appeared to threaten Mueller, suggesting he had damaging information on the former FBI director. Trump said Mueller's selection for the job was a conflict of interest because Trump had interviewed him to serve as the replacement FBI director. It's the same topic Trump's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., says he discussed with a Russian lawyer at a meeting that has drawn intense scrutiny — a coincidence Trump described in the interview as "interesting."

Source: CBC News July 20, 2017 02:03 UTC