Trump Has Reportedly ‘Grown Sour’ on Attorney General Jeff Sessions
President Donald Trump enjoyed the support of then-Senator Jeff Sessions during the campaign at a time when the conventional wisdom still said he probably wouldn’t win. But now, after weeks of negative press, his opinion of his Attorney General is reportedly changing.
A new report from The New York Times says that the president’s tweets today criticizing his own DOJ was a public display of how he has “grown sour on” Sessions and is “blaming him for various troubles that have plagued the White House.”
And it turns out, per the Times, that Trump was really unhappy with Sessions making the decision to recuse himself in the Russia case:
In private, the president’s exasperation has been even sharper. He has intermittently fumed for months over Mr. Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s election, according to people close to Mr. Trump who insisted on anonymity to describe internal conversations. In Mr. Trump’s view, they said, it was that recusal that led eventually to the appointment of a special counsel who took over the investigation…
The frustration over the travel ban might be a momentary episode were it not for the deeper resentment Mr. Trump feels toward Mr. Sessions, according to people close to the president. When Mr. Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation, Mr. Trump learned about it only when he was in the middle of another event, and he publicly questioned the decision.
The report from Maggie Haberman and Peter Baker notes that “much of the past two months of discomfort and self-inflicted pain for Mr. Trump can be tied in some way back to that recusal.”
Back after Sessions announced he would recuse himself, Trump said the following on Twitter:
Jeff Sessions is an honest man. He did not say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017
…intentional. This whole narrative is a way of saving face for Democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017
…to win. The Democrats are overplaying their hand. They lost the election, and now they have lost their grip on reality. The real story…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017
…is all of the illegal leaks of classified and other information. It is a total "witch hunt!"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017
[image via screengrab]
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