IS PREZ OUT FOR SESSIONS’ HEAD?:
‘Time will tell’ if Don fires Jeff
PRESIDENT TRUMP continued piling on his beleaguered attorney general on Tuesday, saying he is “disappointed” in the nation’s top prosecutor.
The commander-in-chief did not say whether he would remove Jeff Sessions from his position when asked at an afternoon press conference why he was letting him “twist in the wind.”
“I am disappointed in the attorney general. He should not have recused himself,” Trump said, referring to the former Alabama senator’s decision to not involve himself with the ongoing Russian meddling probe.
He added that “time will tell” what happens to the attorney general.
Trump has repeatedly blasted Sessions in the media since last week for his months-old decision to recuse himself, which paved the way for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to appoint Robert Mueller as special counsel for all Moscow meddling matters.
Sessions backed away from the Department of Justice’s role in the investigation after reports about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, which he denied when asked about such meetings at his Senate confirmation hearings.
Sessions changed his story to say that he only met with Kislyak in his role as a lawmaker and did not discuss any campaign related issues, though a Washington Post report last week based on the diplomat’s intercepted communications said that they had discussed substantive matters including the then-potential President’s stance toward the Kremlin.
The newspaper reported Monday that the administration is looking for ways to either fire Sessions or make him resign.
Trump confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that he is “looking at” firing him, and brushed off Sessions’ early support of his candidacy, saying he thought Sessions did it to help himself. “So it’s not like a great loyal thing about the endorsement,” Trump told the paper.
Sources told Reuters that Sessions has been offended by his public flogging but is resolved to stay in his job. A White House aide told Politico, “He’s going to make Trump make a decision.”
But Trump’s going to make him squirm until then.
“Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!” Trump tweeted early Tuesday morning.
Republican lawmakers defended Sessions, and one condemned the suggestion of aggressively pursuing Clinton as trampling on the attorney general’s independence from the presidency.
“President Trump’s tweet today suggesting Attorney General Sessions pursue prosecution of a former political rival is highly inappropriate,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement.
Trump also accused acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe of leniency toward his former election rival during his Tuesday Twitter tantrum.
The Sessions-themed posts were a repeat of Monday’s, when Trump said that the “beleaguered” attorney general should focus on Clinton.