Trump Says He’s Looking at Firing Sessions

Real estate mogul and 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at CPAC in 2011 (Photo: Gage Skidmore)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an interview released yesterday by The Wall Street Journal, President Donald Trump said that he is “looking at” firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

“I’m just looking at it,” Trump said regarding the possibility Sessions could be fired. “I’ll just see. It’s a very important thing.”

Evidence of Trump’s frustration became public last week when he attacked Sessions in a New York Times interview over the Attorney General’s decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.

“Sessions should have never recused himself. . . And if he was going to recuse himself he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else,” Trump told the New York Times. “If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, ‘thanks, Jeff, but I’m not going to take you.’ It’s extremely unfair and that’s a mild word.”

The attacks continued on Monday, with Trump taking a jab at the Department of Justice and calling Sessions “beleaguered.” On Tuesday, he tweeted two more attacks criticizing Sessions for being “very weak” on investigations surrounding Hillary Clinton.

RELATED: Alabama Delegation Staunchly Defends Sessions & Giuliani Says The A.G. Got it Right

Various reports have tied potential replacements to the job of Attorney General, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.). Giuliani, however, explicitly said he is not being considered, and he added that Sessions did the right thing by recusing himself from the Russia probe.

Sessions has been one of Trump’s closest political allies since before Alabama even held its primary. Sessions was the first U.S. Senator to endorse Trump and then served in an advisory capacity for his campaign until his victory. Fox New’s Tucker Carlson recently highlighted this relationship on his primetime program and called for the president to stop attacking “one of the very few” friends he has in Washington.

Despite the whirlwind of pressure, Sessions said late last week that he will continue to serve “as long as that is appropriate.