President Donald Trump "has confidence" in Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the White House said Thursday, one day after Trump suggested that he should have picked someone else to lead the Department of Justice.
The Associated Press on Thursday afternoon reported the White House statement, which sought to allay a media uproar that followed comments Trump made to the New York Times.
BREAKING: White House says President Donald Trump `has confidence' in Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 20, 2017
Trump told the Times in an interview published Wednesday that he would not have appointed Sessions had he known that the attorney general would recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
"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," Trump said.
Reporters asked Sessions about Trump's comments at a press briefing on Thursday morning, pushing him on whether he was considering resigning.
Sessions responded that he was "honored" to hold the office of attorney general.
"We love this job, we love this department, and I plan to continue to do so as long as that is appropriate," he said.