WP still ruminating over the AP 1 month in

We're 1 month after the affair and my boyfriend is still constantly thinking about and expressing desire to rebuild a friendship with the friend group the person he cheated on me with is from. He says they're incredibly important to him and he can't hang out with them without the AP, sometimes expressing that he also misses the AP himself as well. It does not help that the AP is essentially the central figure in this group.

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I've expressed to him how much this is hurting me and delaying our rebuilding, and that I can *potentially* work up to the idea of contact again if he will at least move on and demonstrate that he can function without him, but it's an endless cycle right now. He's saying he's not sure he can choose a relationship with me if it means sacrificing his friends, and even if he's stopped discussing it with me lately, I can tell it's on his mind. For me, the issue of him thinking about it so often while we're trying to rebuild is what's destructive, not how much we talk about it. I've even gotten to the point where the AP acknowledges the wrongdoing and even agrees that my partner is focused on the wrong thing :/

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We're in couples therapy now but my therapist calls the situation complicated and I'm having a really hard time getting my partner to lift the affair fog. I'm going to be firmer during therapy that I expect more, but i wanted to ask if anyone had any advice on getting their partner to see reason? Particularly interested in hearing from people where the AP was also a close/best friend.