Sessions recused himself under oath. Sessions falsely testifying under oath doesn't make for a successful "deflection" plan. There are legal consequences to doing that. You can't have an AG who recused himself, supervising an investigation and prosecution.
And you can't have a DAG, Rod Rosenstein supvervising an investigation and prosecution about a case that he was closely involved with. He will protect himself and his cohorts.
It's just that simple.
The deflection is not with the recusal.
The recusal was going to happen, and I don’t think Sessions surprised Trump with that. It was known he would have to do this, even while he was undergoing the nomination.
The recusal issue is with the 2016 election.
All else is fair game.