President Trump continued his attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Saturday, accusing the former senator of not understanding “what is happening” at the Justice Department under his watch.
“Jeff Sessions said he wouldn’t allow politics to influence him only because he doesn’t understand what is happening underneath his command position,” the president tweeted.
In a pair of tweets Saturday morning, the president wrote that Sessions was allowing Robert Mueller to have a “field day” at the Justice Department after the attorney general’s decision last year to recuse himself from the investigation into the Trump campaign.{mosads}
“Highly conflicted Bob Mueller and his gang of 17 Angry Dems are having a field day as real corruption goes untouched. No Collusion!” Trump added.
Trump went on to quote South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham (R) speaking about the possibility of a new attorney general, an indication that the president may be considering Sessions’ firing.
“Every President deserves an Attorney General they have confidence in. I believe every President has a right to their Cabinet, these are not lifetime appointments. You serve at the pleasure of the President,” Trump added, quoting Graham.
Trump’s criticism of Sessions escalated this week amid the guilty verdicts handed down in the trial of Paul Manafort, the president’s former campaign chairman, as well as a guilty plea from Michael Cohen, his former attorney.
Sessions issued a rare statement on Thursday, seemingly rebuking Trump directly and pledging to remain untainted by political bias in his work at the agency.
“While I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations. I demand the highest standards, and where they are not met, I take action,” Sessions said.
At an Oval Office meeting that same day, however, the two men reportedly did not discuss their public conflict, with Axios reporting that there was “not even a passing mention” of the tweets or Sessions’s statement during their talk.
Trump later tweeted part of Sessions’s statement, saying remaining unbiased is “what everyone wants.”