President Trump escalated his attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions, offering a scathing assessment of his performance, the Washington Post reports. “I don’t have an attorney general. It’s very sad,” Trump said in an interview with Hill.TV. He said the former Alabama senator came off as “mixed up and confused” in his 2017 confirmation hearing. Trump has long been critical of Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and said he regretted choosing him to lead the Justice Department. On Hill.TV, Trump offered broader criticism, including on Sessions’s handling of immigration issues, which has been cheered by Trump allies. “I’m not happy at the border, I’m not happy with numerous things, not just [the Russia probe],” Trump said.
Sessions has implemented some of the most aggressive and controversial steps to o crack down on illegal immigration — emphasizing “zero tolerance” for those who come to the country illegally, defending the policy of separating families, and issuing a ruling that limits those who qualify for asylum, among other things. In the interview, Trump suggested he appointed Sessions out of blind loyalty. “I’m so sad over Jeff Sessions because he came to me,” Trump said. “He was the first senator that endorsed me. And he wanted to be attorney general, and I didn’t see it.”