Trump vents anew on Sessions
Adds pressure to resign over Russia probe recusal
• President Donald Trump turned up the heat on Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday, launching a fresh Twitter tirade against him while musing privately about firing the man who was the first U.S. senator to endorse his candidacy.
Pressure on the nation’s top law enforcement officer to resign mounted by the hour, even as fellow Republicans began to push back against Trump’s extraordinary public rebuke.
The president’s latest broadside came in the form of an early morning tweet: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are Emails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!”
Trump’s intensifying condemnation of Sessions has fuelled speculation that the attorney general may step down even if Trump opts not to fire him, though several people close to the former Alabama senator have said he does not plan to quit.
The president’s anger over Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the government’s investigation of Russian meddling in the U.S. election burst into public view Monday when Trump referred to Sessions in a tweet as “beleaguered.”
Privately, Trump has speculated to allies in recent days about the potential consequences of firing Sessions, according to three people who have recently spoken to the president. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
But the president’s ongoing criticism of Sessions drew a fiery response from one of his former Senate colleagues on Tuesday, suggesting that all Republicans may not fall in line behind any effort to oust him.
“Jeff Sessions is one of the most decent people I’ve ever met in my political life,” said South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. “President Trump’s tweet today suggesting Attorney General Sessions pursue prosecution of a former political rival is highly inappropriate.” Other senators also voiced support of their former colleague. But the White House only cranked up the pressure on Sessions, risking inflaming the Senate on the day it was set to move on the GOP health-care plan.
Anthony Scaramucci, the president’s new communications director, said in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt that Trump is “obviously frustrated” and that the two men “need to work this thing out.”
Scaramucci then replied “you’re probably right” when Hewitt said it was clear that Trump wants Sessions gone.
And White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News that the president was “frustrated and disappointed” with Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia probe.