Senate Republicans Thursday signaled that President Trump should not fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions because they’re not sure they’d be able to confirm a replacement.
“I don’t see the president being able to get someone else confirmed as attorney general were he to fire Jeff Sessions,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Collins’ view is pivotal because the Senate GOP has only a one-vote majority needed to confirm presidential appointments.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said outright that Trump should not oust Sessions.
“I think it would be bad for the country, it would be bad for the president, it would be bad for the Department of Justice, for him to be forced out under these circumstances,” Cornyn said.
[Opinion: Trump can disparage Jeff Sessions all he likes, but he’s in trouble if the AG quits now]
Cornyn called Sessions “an honorable man who is trying to do the right thing” and said the Senate would not vote to replace him this year.
“We don’t have time nor is there a likely candidate who can get confirmed … under those circumstances,” Cornyn said.
Talk of a Sessions ouster escalated on Capitol Hill after Trump criticized him during a Fox News interview and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Trump could fire him after the election. Trump and his backers have criticized Sessions for remaining on the sidelines of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of alleged collusion between Russians and the Trump campaign, which has spread now to unrelated matters.
Trump said Sessions “never took control” of the Justice Department in his Fox interview.
That prompted Sessions to defend his time in the department. Sessions said he “took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in,” in a statement he released just before heading over to the White House to meet with Trump.
[Giuliani: Americans would ‘revolt’ if Trump were impeached]
