The Washington Post reports President Trump again is talking about firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whom he has been insulting and berating on TV and online.
His attorneys concluded that they have persuaded him — for now — not to make such a move while the special-counsel investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign is ongoing, the people said.
But there is growing evidence that Senate Republicans, who have long cautioned Trump against firing Sessions, are now resigned to the prospect that he may do so after the November midterm elections — a sign that one of the last remaining walls of opposition to such a move is crumbling.
“We wish the best for him, but as any administration would show, Cabinet members seldom last the entire administration, and this is clearly not an exception,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said in an interview Tuesday.
“Nothing lasts forever,” Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) told The Washington Post, describing the Trump-Sessions dynamic as “a toxic relationship.”
Added Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), a longtime defender of the attorney general: “My sense is the fix is in.”
(...)
... Trump has said he views Sessions as disloyal and has repeatedly blasted him for recusing himself from the Russia inquiry — a move that led to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein’s decision to appoint special counsel Robert S. Mueller III last year.
If Sessions leaves the Justice Department and the Senate confirms a new attorney general, that person probably would assume oversight of the investigation — as well as the ability to determine what material from the inquiry is shared with Congress and the public.
(...)
[Sen. Lindsey O.] Graham (S.C.) told NBC News on Tuesday that the president’s anger with Sessions goes beyond his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. “It’s a pretty deep breach,” he said, declining to elaborate.
Later, Graham told reporters that any replacement for attorney general must “support the idea that Mueller should be able to do his job without interference.”
But Senate Democrats scoffed at the idea that Trump would appoint an attorney general who would give the special counsel independence.
“I wouldn’t trust this president to put someone in place [who] wouldn’t an hour after he’s sworn in fire Mueller,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio).