Bipartisan agreement in the House on a Russia sanctions bill was the first sign this week that the alliance between President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress was growing shakier. On Tuesday, it grew shakier still, as multiple Republican senators spoke out in protest of Trump’s continued attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017
Senator Ted Cruz, who has been floated as a potential replacement for Sessions, called his former colleague “a friend and a strong conservative.”
“I was proud to vote to confirm Jeff and to vigorously defend his confirmation, and I’m deeply gratified that we have a principled conservative like Jeff Sessions serving as Attorney General,” Cruz said in a statement.
Senator. Lindsey Graham called Sessions “one the most decent people I’ve ever met in my political life.”
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 25, 2017
Others who weighed in to defend Sessions included Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and former senator and Tea Party scion Jim DeMint.
Other GOP senators declined to comment on Trump’s repeated tweets this week attacking Sessions, in which he called the attorney general “beleaguered” and called on him to investigate “Crooked Hillary.”
“I have a reaction, but I’m keeping it to myself, Sen. Bob Corker told reporters Tuesday. “I definitely have a reaction.”
The president has been unhappy with Sessions, who was one of the earliest elected Republicans to endorse him, ever since Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation on advice of the Justice Department’s legal counsel. As Trump’s rage about the investigation has intensified, so too have his attacks against Sessions.
