State’s senators speak of Sessions

WASHINGTON — With President Donald Trump repeatedly denouncing his own attorney general on the campaign trail and via Twitter, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said it may be time for Jeff Sessions to leave the Justice Department.

The relationship, Graham said Tuesday, appears to be “beyond repair.”

U.S. Sen. John Boozman, a Republican from Rogers, says a shake-up now would be disruptive.

“I think right now we’re really working hard to try and get our appropriations bills done. We’re trying to get a farm bill done. There’s a number of things that are very important. They’re not glamorous, but they’re the underpinning of the country,” he said.

There’s a Supreme Court nomination that must be dealt with and an election that is looming, Boozman noted.

Asked last week whether the relationship is beyond repair, Boozman pointed to the recent headlines.

“If we’ve been watching the news at all, it appears that the relationship is not a good one,” he said.

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, who has maintained close ties with Trump and Sessions, declined to provide any armchair psychoanalysis.

“In terms of their personal relationship, I can’t speak to it. I don’t see it and neither one has spoken to me about their relationship,” the Republican from Dardanelle said. “I do know the attorney general is faithfully carrying out the policies of the president on immigration and crime, the policies on which [Trump] campaigned.”