Trump ‘disappointed’ in attorney general, decision ‘soon’
WASHINGTON: US AttorneyGeneral Jeff Sessions found himself in an increasingly untenable position Tuesday, as President Donald Trump once again publicly skewered his top law enforcement official, calling him ‘VERY weak’ and saying he is ‘disappointed’.
Sessions was one of Trump’s earliest and most loyal supporters, but the Republican billionaire has turned on him publicly in the past week, as rumours fly that the former senator from Alabama will be replaced.
Trump has openly criticised Sessions for recusing himself from overseeing a federal probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to meddle in the 2016 US presidential elections.
On Tuesday, Trump berated Sessions over what he deemed insufficient efforts in pursuing intelligence leaks and for failing to go after former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over her private email server.
‘Attorney-General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails DNC server) Intel leakers!’ Trump said in one of his trademark early morning tweetstorms.
Later, he again said he was ‘”disappointed’ in Sessions and reiterated that had he known Sessions would remove himself from the Russia probe, he would not have hired him.
“He should not have recused himself almost immediately after he took office and, if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me prior to taking office, and I would have quite simply picked somebody else,” Trump told reporters.
New White House Press Secretary Sarah Huck a bee Sanders indicated Tuesday that Trump was not going to change his mind, and her boss, communications director Anthony Scaramucci said: “”We’ll get to a resolution soon.”
US presidents normally go to great pains to avoid being seen as influencing ongoing or possible investigations, making Trump’s attacks on Sessions all the more extraordinary.
With pressure mounting from the investigation led by special counsel and former FBI director Robert Mueller, Trump has sought to revive an election year controversy over Clinton’s use of a private server to send emails while secretary of state.