Sessions hits back at Trump after criticism
BREAKING SILENCE President said attorney general should have protected him WASHINGTON:After
quietly suffering months of humiliating slights and insults, US attorney general Jeff Sessions pushed back against a new attack from President Donald Trump, saying the justice department will not be influenced by politics.
“While I am attorney general, the actions of the department of justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations,” Sessions said in a statement that was described by observers as surprising and long overdue, as he had chosen not to respond to earlier public attacks.
Trump has long resented Sessions recusing himself from the Russia probe ordered by the justice department to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 elections and probable collusion by the Trump campaign. Trump has said Sessions should have protected him and openly expressed his frustration as the investigation has swirled around his administration, securing five guilty pleas and on, Wednesday, the conviction of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.
The guilty plea entered by Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer and fixer, that implicated his former boss was also secured by the justice department, though not by the Russia probe of special counsel Robert Mueller.“I put in an attorney general that never took control of the justice department,” Trump said.