President Trump doubled down on his criticism of Jeff Sessions Tuesday afternoon, saying he was “disappointed” in his attorney general for recusing himself from the Russia probe and that “time will tell” his ultimate fate.
“I am disappointed in the attorney general. He should not have recused himself almost immediately after he took office, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me prior to taking office, and I would have, quite simply, picked somebody else,” Trump said at the White House during a press briefing with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
“So I think that’s a bad thing, not for the president but for the presidency. I think it’s unfair to the presidency, and that’s the way feel.”
The president also said he wanted Sessions to do more to crack down on leaks coming from the federal government.
“I want the attorney general to be much tougher on the leaks from intelligence agencies, which are leaking like rarely have they ever leaked before at a very important level. These are intelligence agencies. we cannot have that happen,” he said.
“I told you before, I’m very disappointed with the attorney general but we will see what happens. Time will tell. Time will tell.”
When asked, he denied that he was leaving Sessions twisting in the wind by criticizing him but not firing him.
Government experts said Trump wants Sessions gone — but doesn’t want to fire him and face the repercussions.
Trump wants to “try to persuade him to step down rather than trying to take action himself. He wants the investigation to end so is trying to move out players causing problems . . . without doing the firing,” said Julian Zelizer, a professor of public affairs at Princeton.
“Trump is trying to intimidate his own AG,” added University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato.
A fed-up Sessions — and some allies in Congress — were fighting back. A friend described the attorney general as furious over the president’s personal taunts and said he had no plans to quit.
“Sessions is totally pissed off about it,” the pal told The Daily Beast. “It’s insane and it’s stupid.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the president’s demand that he go after Clinton was “highly inappropriate.”
Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump wants to get rid of Sessions so he can replace him during Congress’ August recess with someone who will can special counsel Robert Mueller — a move Schumer said would spark a “constitutional crisis.”