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Warren Says Sessions Right to Recuse Himself From Russia Probe, Still Wants Him to Resign

July 20, 2017

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) said Thursday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions was right to recuse himself from the Russia investigation but added that she still wants him to quit his post because of his views.

President Donald Trump lit into Sessions in an interview published Wednesday with the New York Times, saying that Sessions should not have recused 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.

Warren told MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle that Trump's remarks about Sessions showed he was not interested in following the law.

"I opposed Jeff Sessions for attorney general of the United States, but let's be clear: His recusing himself is simply following the law," she said. "That is what the Department of Justice requires."

Ruhle wondered if she wanted Sessions to quit, as Trump apparently does now.

"I'd be very glad for Jeff Sessions to quit and to get someone else in as attorney general of the United States," she said. "I believe very firmly that Jeff Sessions should not be the No. 1 lawmaker [sic] in America ... On civil rights, on drugs, on private prisons, there are many reasons for Jeff Sessions not to be attorney general."

Asked if she thought Trump's next pick for the top law enforcement position would be better than Sessions, Warren said they could have that fight later.

Sessions has previously reportedly offered Trump his resignation, but Trump declined it.