Attorney General Jeff Sessions has reportedly said to his allies that he hopes media coverage of recent moves by the Justice Department will impress President Trump.
According to The Washington Post, the attorney general has requested that White House officials ensure Trump is aware of Sessions’s moves.
The Justice Department is also starting to probe subjects that the president has discussed openly, according to the report.
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Trump’s relationship with Sessions has reportedly been strained over the attorney general’s decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe last year.
“He’s one of the most active Cabinet secretaries there is,” an administration official told the Post. “He’s done a fine job. Does it wash away the sin of recusal? I don’t think so.”
The news outlet said White House officials such as former chief strategist Stephen Bannon and counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway have urged Trump to give Sessions another chance, pointing to the crackdowns on the MS-13 gang and leaks as issues that the Justice Department has done well in addressing under Sessions.
A Trump administration official cited by the Post said Sessions seldom talks with Trump, but Sessions’s aides speak to Chief of Staff John Kelly.
Just this week, key Republican Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Mark Meadows (N.C.) penned an op-ed calling for Sessions to be replaced.