Prez keeps up ‘public waterboarding’ of Sessions
President Trump continued mercilessly berating Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Twitter yesterday, even as the former Alabama senator showed no signs of relinquishing his post and fellow GOPers raced to defend him, including one who denounced the president’s tactics as “public waterboarding.”
“Why didn’t A.G. Sessions replace Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a Comey friend who was in charge of Clinton investigation but got big dollars ($700,000) for his wife’s political run from Hillary Clinton and her representatives,” tweeted the president yesterday. “Drain the Swamp!”
The Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General is investigating whether McCabe should have recused himself from the Clinton email investigation amid reports his wife, an unsuccessful Virginia state Senate candidate last year, received donations from Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a key Clinton ally.
There’s no evidence — as Trump alleges — that McCabe actively fundraised for his wife or that she received donations from Hillary Clinton herself.
It was the third straight day of Trump Twitter attacks against the attorney general. Trump blasted Sessions for taking “a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes” on Tuesday and labeled him as “beleaguered” on Monday.
He told The New York Times last week he never would have picked Sessions if he knew he’d ultimately recuse himself on the ongoing Russia investigation.
But Trump has so far stopped short of terminating Sessions, and the AG doesn’t appear to want to resign on his own.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters the two have not spoken this week at all, even though Sessions was at the White House yesterday for meetings.
“He’s obviously disappointed but also wants the attorney general to continue to focus on the things that the attorney general does,” said Sanders. “He wants him to lead the Department of Justice. He wants to do that strongly. He wants him to focus on things like immigration, leaks and a number of other issues, and I think that’s what his focus is at this point.”