Trump highlights quote on Sessions recusal: ‘An unforced betrayal of the president’

President Trump late Wednesday highlighted a quote from a Washington lawyer once considered for his legal team who said Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s recusal from the Russia probe was an “unforced betrayal” of the president. 

“‘The recusal of Jeff Sessions was an unforced betrayal of the President of the United States.” JOE DIGENOVA, former U.S. Attorney,'” Trump tweeted. 

“The recusal of Jeff Sessions was an unforced betrayal of the President of the United States.” JOE DIGENOVA, former U.S. Attorney.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2018

The tweet comes after the president said on Wednesday that he wished he had chosen someone else to head the Department of Justice. 

The president made the comments on Twitter, citing House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.). 

Rep.Trey Gowdy, “I don’t think so, I think what the President is doing is expressing frustration that Attorney General Sessions should have shared these reasons for recusal before he took the job, not afterward. If I were the President and I picked someone to be the country’s….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018

….chief law enforcement officer, and they told me later, ‘oh by the way I’m not going to be able to participate in the most important case in the office, I would be frustrated too…and that’s how I read that – Senator Sessions, why didn’t you tell me before I picked you…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018

….There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!” And I wish I did!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018

Sessions, who was the first sitting senator to endorse Trump during the 2016 campaign, recused himself from the probe after it was revealed he had not disclosed contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the 2016 presidential race.

The president has since hit him for the move, viewing it as the ultimate sign on betrayal.  

DiGenova earlier this year had been considered for the legal team defending Trump in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling and possible ties between the president’s campaign on Moscow, but he was ultimately not hired due to “conflicts.”