Attorney General Jeff Sessions received personal assurance this week from White House chief of staff John Kelly that his job is safe, despite enduring both public and private scoldings from President Trump over the last several weeks.
Though Trump rewarded Sessions with the top law enforcement post for being the first Republican senator to endorse his 2016 campaign, their relationship has been on the rocks since late last summer. Then, the president told the New York Times he never would have tapped the former Alabama lawmaker for attorney general had he known he was going to recuse himself from overseeing the federal investigation into Russian election interference.
Rumors surrounding their strained relationship reemerged this week when multiple outlets claimed Sessions was on his way out, soon to be replaced by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. Some of that speculation was thought to be coming from Pruitt’s own office.
One big reason to replace Sessions is to let Trump get at Mueller. Because of Sessions’ recusal, only Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein can fire the special counsel — and he has indicated that he sees no just cause to do so.
But Kelly phoned Sessions this week to reassure him that he was not in jeopardy, a senior administration official told the Washington Examiner. The chief of staff later told reporters he has been reminding Trump during Oval Office meetings of the attorney general’s stellar work to advance his agenda, Axios reported Friday.
Part of the reason why Sessions has weathered the storm better than other administration officials, even in the face of public anger from Trump, is because he is carrying out so much of what Trump promised during the 2016 presidential campaign.
It is “[v]ery unlikely that POTUS fires Sessions,” one former top Justice Department official told the Washington Examiner.
“He may be upset with him at times, but Sessions has faithfully executed POTUS agenda at DOJ. Being the AG is Sessions’ dream job, doubt he would quit even with pressure from POTUS,” the official said.
Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist, conceded to the Washington Examiner that even if Trump is still “fuming” about Sessions’ recusal from the Russia probe, it is “highly unlikely that he will be removed before the 2018 elections.”
“It would cause the confirmation fight of the century and the Russia probe to be the front page story for weeks on end (if not months),” O’Connell said in an email. “It would seriously undermine Republican efforts to hold both Houses of Congress. So, Sessions stays for now.”
The Senate itself is signaling that it’s not in the mood to take on the job of finding a replacement. Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are trying to dissuade Trump from firing his attorney general, and have warned it would be unlikely that a potential successor would make it through the Senate confirmation process smoothly.
A source close to committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told the Washington Examiner the “senator is not going to speculate on this hypothetical.” Grassley told CNN last July, amid swirling rumors of Sessions’ departure, that his agenda was “full” and his priority was judicial nominees.
“Judges first subcabinet second. AG no way,” he tweeted at the time.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also on the Judiciary Committee, told CNN this week: “It would be very difficult to find a replacement. It’s a tough time right now to confirm somebody in a job like that. I think Jeff is doing a good job.”
The president’s decision this week to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, and move his deputy Gina Haspel into the top intelligence role, has already put pressure on the Judiciary panel, where some nominees have faced months-long delays in their own confirmation processes.
Trump’s disappointment with Sessions has never truly disappeared since a three-day stretch last summer when he attacked the Alabama Republican each day — both for recusing himself from the Russia probe, and for paving the way for special counsel Robert Mueller’s appointment.
Sessions has also been chastised by the president for not opening a new investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and most recently, Trump complained on Twitter that Sessions assigned a department investigation into alleged surveillance abuses to the inspector general.
Sessions, however, is hanging tough.
“As long as I am the attorney general, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution,” Sessions said in direct response to the latest Trump tweet about him.
