It's generally accepted as common knowledge that Jeff Sessions did not inform the President in advance of his decision to recuse.
Whether that is an express or implied fact may be debatable, but immediately after the recusal happened, I seem to recall the President saying he was "caught by surprise", or words to that effect. Thus, it's reasonable to infer that the President was broadsided, and, if I'm not mistaken, he indicated that at the time.
Furthermore, in the recent NYT interview, the President unambiguously stated that Jeff Sessions made no mention of recusing himself before taking the AG position. That's a problem in and of itself, and I see no reason for Sessions not to have mentioned it—especially given the fact that it might very well have influenced the President's nomination decision.
I'm not aware of what the evidence is regarding the day Sessions actually did recuse himself, and maybe everyone is being presumptive, but all indications are that the President was not consulted—or even notified—before the AG made his announcement. Common courtesy dictates that Sessions should have forewarned the President. Indeed, if any such notification had occurred, we very likely would have heard by now about the President advising—or even requesting—that the AG not recuse himself.
Let's not forget that, additionally, Jeff Sessions also failed to disclose his meeting with the Russian Ambassador (Lavrov was his name, I believe) on his "security questionnaire", or whatever they call it. That's a rather significant lapse—even if it was innocent—and one which caused further embarrassment to the President.
I'm unaware of the precise time frame for that notification to the President either, but it certainly demonstrates that Jeff Sessions is capable of gross carelessness, if not intentional deception.
Few politicians—including Jeff Sessions—are "pure as the driven snow"...
That was a good summary. I’m not buying the, ‘Sessions is above reproach,’ line. There’s no possibility that he ‘just forgot,’ the Lavrov meeting. He conveniently ‘forgot’ it—at Trump’s expense.