Trump rips Sessions, but refuses to say whether he will fire AG

Washington, Sep 20 (IANS) US President Donald Trump on Wednesday railed against Attorney General Jeff Sessions saying he did not "have an attorney general", though he avoided mentioning if he planned on firing him.

"I don’t have an attorney general. It’s very sad," Trump said in an interview at the White House with the Hill.

This is not the first time that the president has attacked Sessions, but it is the most direct criticism against the attorney general since he decided to recuse himself from the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible ties between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.

The president, however, said he was disappointed not just because of Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation in 2017.

"I’m not happy at the border, I’m not happy with numerous things, not just this," Trump said, without providing any further details.

Trump recalled that Sessions was "the first senator" to endorse him during the Republican primaries, and that Sessions "wanted to be attorney general."

The president avoided providing a clear answer on whether he was considering firing Sessions after the November midterm elections.

"We’ll see what happens. A lot of people have asked me to do that. And I guess I study history, and I say I just want to leave things alone, but it was very unfair what he did," Trump said.

"I’m very disappointed in Jeff," the president said.

In late August, the AG responded to a series of criticisms from the president saying that, while he was in office, "the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations."

After Sessions recused himself, the Russia investigation was handed to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed special counsel Robert Mueller to head the inquiry.