Fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ request to stay at the Justice Department until the end of the week was denied by White House chief of staff John Kelly, according to a report.
Kelly insisted that Sessions’ departure from DOJ had to be Wednesday, one day after the 2018 midterm elections, administration officials told CNN. Sessions reportedly never received a phone call from President Trump, instead speaking with Kelly.
Sessions submitted his resignation letter to Kelly Wednesday afternoon following an earlier request from Trump. The president has publicly berated Sessions over his March 2017 decision to recuse himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s federal Russia investigation. Sessions was advised to stand down from the supervisory role based on concerns he had been a surrogate for Trump during the 2016 campaign and had failed to disclose contacts with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
[Opinion: Jeff Sessions can thank Senate Republicans for his early retirement]
Sessions’ ouster is the latest embarrassing push Trump has given a member of his own Cabinet.
When ex-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was forced out of the State Department in March, there were mixed reports regarding whether Tillerson was forewarned or whether he learned of his dismissal via Twitter.
Former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin revealed in April that Trump tweet-firing him in March was “a surprise” because they had spoken “just a few hours before” to schedule a meeting for the following day.
Some officials, such as fired White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, experienced unusually short tenures. Scaramucci, who was fired in July 2017, held his position in the West Wing for 10 days.
Meanwhile, “Apprentice” star and ex-Trump communications aide Omarosa Manigault Newman was reportedly “physically dragged and escorted off campus” in December after she was asked to step down. The Secret Service later denied any involvement.
During a press conference Wednesday, Trump signaled more changes were forthcoming. He told reporters he was “looking at different people for different positions,” which was “very common after the midterms.”
