President Donald Trump discussed firing Jeff Sessions with the attorney general’s own top aide around the time that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s job was up in the air, according to a report by the Washington Post Wednesday.
Unnamed “people briefed on the conversation” told WaPo about the conversation between Trump and Sessions’s chief of staff Matthew Whitaker. The two had an ambiguous conversation that left the possibility open for Whitaker to head the Department of Justice, perhaps temporarily or even permanently, according to unidentified sources cited by WaPo.
Whitaker’s name was in the news in September when he was floated as a possible replacement for Rosenstein after reports alleged that Rosenstein had discussed using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump.
Trump has expressed dissatisfaction with Sessions since the attorney general recused himself from the 2016 election Russian meddling investigation, according to WaPo.
The president appeared to criticize Sessions Sept. 3 about charges against Republican congressmen Chris Collins of New York and Duncan Hunter of California.
“Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department,” Trump wrote on Twitter Sept. 3. “Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff.”
Trump also talked about Sessions and prison reform bill the First Step Act during a phone interview on “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning.
“If [Sessions] doesn’t [support reform], then he gets overruled by me. Because I make the decision, he doesn’t,” Trump said according to the Washington Examiner.
Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham predicted Aug. 23. that Trump would fire Sessions. (RELATED: Michael Bloomberg Takes First Step Toward Democratic Presidential Run In 2020)
“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.
The Justice Department declined to comment to The Daily Caller News Foundation Thursday.
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