--- title: Jeff Sessions: Donald Trump's Criticism 'Kind of Hurtful' description: Jeff Sessions said the President's open criticism of him had been painful, but he still had confidence in his leadership capabilities. canonical: https://time.com/4877246/jeff-sessions-donald-trump-fox-news-interview/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-27T20:32:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:46:13.228Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jeff Sessions Says Trump's Attacks Have Been 'Kind of Hurtful' og:description: But he still thinks the President is a strong leader og:url: https://time.com/4877246/jeff-sessions-donald-trump-fox-news-interview/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4313fc9b7ddada1f/6988bcb2f887dc42efe99484/donald-trump-jeff-sessions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Jeff Sessions Is Sworn In As U.S. Attorney General og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jeff Sessions Says Trump's Attacks Have Been 'Kind of Hurtful' twitter:description: But he still thinks the President is a strong leader twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4313fc9b7ddada1f/6988bcb2f887dc42efe99484/donald-trump-jeff-sessions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jeff Sessions Says Trump's Attacks Have Been 'Kind of Hurtful' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jul 27, 2017 8:32 PM UTC  Jeff Sessions, U.S. attorney general, speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump, left, listens after Sessions was sworn in by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, not pictured, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017. Jeff Sessions, U.S. attorney general, speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump, left, listens after Sessions was sworn in by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, not pictured, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017. Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jul 27, 2017 8:32 PM UTC President [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4876145/president-trump-takes-anger-out-on-aides/)‘s embattled Attorney General, [Jeff Sessions](http://time.com/4876286/jeff-sessions-legal-marijuana/), said Thursday that Trump’s [public and persistent criticism](http://time.com/4872557/jeff-sessions-donald-trump-tweet-lindsey-graham/) of him in recent days has been painful, but that he still has confidence in his boss as a leader. “It’s kind of hurtful but the President of the United States is a strong leader,” Sessions during an interview on Fox News while traveling in El Salvador, where he was on an official visit to discuss immigration, drugs, gang violence and human trafficking.”He is determined to move this country in the direction that he believes it needs to go to make it great again. And he has had a lot of criticism and he’s steadfast determined to get his job done and he wants all of us to do our job and that’s what I intend to do.” Sessions also conceded [in an interview with the Associated Press](https://apnews.com/52f0de149e0246c594c82f137f896598) on Thursday that it has not been the “best week,” for his relationship with the President, but said the two have “harmony of values and beliefs.” Trump [derided Sessions last week ](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/trump-interview-transcript.html)in an interview with the The New York _Times,_ saying it was “unfair” Sessions had recused himself from overseeing the Justice Department investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether Trump associates colluded with Russian officials. Trump said he would have picked someone else for Attorney General had he known that would happen. Sessions [recused himself ](http://time.com/4689960/jeff-sessions-russia-recuse-donald-trump/)from the Russia investigation in March after reports emerged that he had failed to disclose his own encounters with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, a recusal that helped set in motion a chain of events that eventually led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller to oversee the probe. Sessions was one of Trump’s earliest supporters during the campaign and the first from the Senate to back his candidacy. Since the interview with the _Times,_ Trump has ratcheted up his criticism of Sessions, [tweeting earlier this week ](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/889467610332528641)that Sessions is “beleaguered” and questioning why he has not investigated Hillary Clinton. “Time will tell,” Trump said earlier this week when [asked if he would fire Sessions.](http://time.com/4873479/donald-trump-jeff-sessions-firing-criticism/?iid=sr-link3) “I told you before I’m very disappointed with the Attorney General, but we will see what happens.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4877246/jeff-sessions-donald-trump-fox-news-interview/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4877246/jeff-sessions-donald-trump-fox-news-interview/"},"headline":"Jeff Sessions Says Trump's Attacks Have Been 'Kind of Hurtful'","datePublished":"2017-07-27T20:32:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:46:13.228Z","description":"But he still thinks the President is a strong leader","url":"https://time.com/4877246/jeff-sessions-donald-trump-fox-news-interview/","keywords":["White House","Jeff Sessions","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4313fc9b7ddada1f/6988bcb2f887dc42efe99484/donald-trump-jeff-sessions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4313fc9b7ddada1f/6988bcb2f887dc42efe99484/donald-trump-jeff-sessions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jeff Sessions Is Sworn In As U.S. Attorney General","caption":"Jeff Sessions Is Sworn In As U.S. Attorney General","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4877246/jeff-sessions-donald-trump-fox-news-interview/","name":"Jeff Sessions Says Trump's Attacks Have Been 'Kind of Hurtful'"}}]}] ```