Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) predicted on Thursday that President Donald Trump will fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions “sooner rather than later,” most likely after the 2018 midterm elections.
“The president’s entitled to an attorney general he has faith in, somebody that’s qualified for the job, and I think there will come a time, sooner rather than later, where it will be time to have a new face and a fresh voice at the Department of Justice,” Graham told Bloomberg News. “Clearly, Attorney General Sessions doesn’t have the confidence of the president,” he added.
The GOP is expected to gain senators in the midterm elections, which is why the president will probably wait until next year, after a new Congress is sworn in.
Replacing Sessions before the election would be a “non-starter,” Graham said, likely referring to the current political make-up of the Senate.
Once more pro-Trump senators are in place, the president should have no trouble getting a new attorney general confirmed.
https://youtu.be/FrHnQemd0W4
Trump has expressed disappointment in Sessions on a number of occasions, most recently in an interview on Fox News. “I put in an attorney general that never took control of the Justice Department, Jeff Sessions,” the president said. “He took the job and then he said, ‘I’m going to recuse myself,’” he added. “I said, ‘What kind of man is this?’ And by the way, he was on the campaign. The only reason I gave him the job, I felt loyalty. He was an original supporter.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired back at the president in a statement on Thursday. “I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in, which is why we have had unprecedented success at effectuating the President’s agenda—one that protects the safety and security rights of the American people, reduces violent crime, enforces our immigration laws, promotes economic growth, and advances religious liberty,” Sessions wrote.
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