Support for Sessions as row worsens
UNITED STATES: The public standoff between the White House and America’s senior law enforcement official took another strange turn yesterday as President Donald Trump escalated his verbal attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was urged by fellow conservatives to stand his ground.
Trump was asked at a Rose Garden news conference if he would fire Sessions, who angered the president by recusing himself from the criminal probe into possible connections between Trump’s election campaign and Russia.
‘‘We’ll see what happens,’' said Trump - a potentially ominous choice of phrase, considering he used the same expression when talking to FBI Director James Comey before he was fired.
‘‘I’m disappointed in the attorney general,’' Trump said. ‘‘If he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me prior to taking office, and I would have picked somebody else. It’s a bad thing not just for the president, but also for the presidency. I think it’s unfair to the presidency.’’
He said he wanted Sessions ‘‘to be much tougher on leaks in the intelligence agencies that are leaking like they never have before ... You can’t let that happen’’.
Trump’s reluctance to fire Sessions may be based in part on the lack of an immediate plan for a successor at the Justice Department. While Trump had discussed potential candidates to replace Sessions, senior White House officials had not settled on someone, and might not any time soon, administration officials said.
One Republican close to the White House said several senior aides, including newly hired communications director Anthony Scaramucci, had urged Trump to sit down with Sessions and work through their differences. So far, there had been little enthusiasm for that suggestion.
Republicans rallied to Sessions’ defence. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch said Sessions ‘‘is among the most honorable men in government today ... I have full confidence in Jeff’s ability to perform the duties of his office and, above all, uphold the rule of law.’'
Meanwhile, Paul Manafort, who served as a top aide to Trump’s campaign, yesterday provided congressional investigators with notes he took during a meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer that has emerged as a focus in the investigation of Russian interference in the election.
Manafort’s submission, which came as he was interviewed in a closed session by staff members for the Senate Intelligence Committee, could offer a key contemporaneous account of the June 2016 session, which was organised by the president’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr, and has gained attention in recent days from lawmakers as well as special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
The House of Representatives yesterday voted overwhelmingly to slap new sanctions on Russia, and force Trump to obtain lawmakers’ permission before easing any sanctions, in a rare rebuke of the president. The bill still has to be passed by the Senate.
– Washington Post, Reuters