Priebus claims he helped stop Trump from firing Sessions

Former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus is claiming he helped prevent President Trump from accepting the resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions last May.

Priebus took credit for convincing Trump not to accept Sessions’ letter of resignation in an interview published by Vanity Fair on Wednesday.

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“[White House counsel] Don McGahn came in my office pretty hot, red, out of breath,” Priebus told Vanity Fair. “[He] said, ‘We’ve got a problem.’ I responded, ‘What?’ And he said, ‘Well, we just got a special counsel, and Sessions just resigned.’ I said, ‘What!? What the hell are you talking about?’”

The conversation took place after President Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey and the Justice Department appointed Robert Mueller to take charge of an independent investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election. Trump reportedly blamed Sessions for the appointment, because Sessions had recused himself from the Russia investigation earlier in the year.

“‘That can’t happen,'” Priebus said he responded to McGahn, recalling that he reacted by calling an emergency meeting.

Priebus said that in the meeting with Vice President Pence and White House strategist Stephen Bannon, they convinced Sessions not to resign immediately. He provided a letter of resignation to Trump that evening instead, and by then Priebus said he was able to calm the president.

Comey has testified before Congress that he was dismissed by Trump after refusing to end the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, a claim that White House lawyers have disputed. 

Sessions recused himself after it was revealed that he failed to disclose meetings with the Russian ambassador during the campaign. 

Trump has said that it was “very unfair” to him that Sessions resigned, and that he would not have hired Sessions in the first place if he knew the attorney general would not defend him throughout the investigation.