I asked two ppl close to Trump why he is tormenting Sessions instead of firing him. The answer from both, paraphrased: Because he can.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 25, 2017
President wants to remove his handpicked AG for not handling criminal investigation of him in more politicized manner. Unthinkable pre-Trump https://t.co/0Q9d9gzYEY
— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) July 25, 2017
More IMAX-level projection, of course…
WSJ INTERVIEW: Trump says Sessions—only senator to endorse him in primary—did so bc of big crowds, not loyalty https://t.co/BP4RpTNn79
— Michael C. Bender (@MichaelCBender) July 25, 2017
… “It’s not like a great loyal thing about the endorsement,” Mr. Trump said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “I’m very disappointed in Jeff Sessions.”
Asked whether he would remove Mr. Sessions from office, Mr. Trump said he was unhappy with the attorney general’s decision to recuse himself from the probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
“I’m just looking at it,” the president said when asked how long he could continue to criticize Mr. Sessions without firing him. “I’ll just see. It’s a very important thing.”…
In the interview, he was joined by his daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci and Hope Hicks, the White House director of strategic communications…
Mr. Sessions was the first U.S. senator to back Mr. Trump, a decision that was seen as a major blow to rival Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas). The endorsement came ahead of a handful of primary contests in Southern states with large numbers of evangelical voters—including Alabama, Mr. Sessions’s home—that Mr. Cruz’s campaign had banked on winning.
Mr. Sessions’s endorsement came at a rally in Alabama, one of the biggest of the campaign.
“When they say he endorsed me, I went to Alabama,” Mr. Trump said on Tuesday, recalling the endorsement. “I had 40,000 people. He was a senator from Alabama. I won the state by a lot, massive numbers. A lot of the states I won by massive numbers. But he was a senator, he looks at 40,000 people and he probably says, ’What do I have to lose?’ And he endorsed me. So it’s not like a great loyal thing about the endorsement. But I’m very disappointed in Jeff Sessions.”…
During a Rose Garden press conference Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Trump repeated the comments made in his interview that he is “disappointed” in Mr. Sessions and said “time will tell” whether his attorney general is ultimately fired.
Mr. Trump said that he wants Mr. Sessions “to be much tougher on the leaks from the intelligence agencies.”
They’re beginning to scare the children!
Pushing out Sessions poisons well with R Senators, Cabinet members, and a key bloc of ideological conservatives. Other than that it's fine.
— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) July 25, 2017
REPUBS IN DISARRAY! Open Thread: Rooting for Injuries, Trump / Sessions EditionPost + Comments (122)