A top ally of President Trump in the Senate said that it is “very likely” the president fires Attorney General Jeff Sessions after this year’s midterm elections.
“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,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Bloomberg News on Thursday. “Clearly, Attorney General Sessions doesn’t have the confidence of the president.”
Graham, who is a likely successor to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, explained that Trump is “entitled to an attorney general he has faith in.”
The comments come after Trump criticized Sessions — something he has done nearly monthly since the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller in May 2017 — in an interview with Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt.
In the interview that aired Thursday morning, Trump said he put in “an attorney general that never took control of the Justice Department, Jeff Sessions.”
“Never took control of the Justice Department,” Trump said. “And it’s sort of a regrettable thing.”
[Opinion: Trump can disparage Jeff Sessions all he likes, but he’s in trouble if the AG quits now]
President @realDonaldTrump: “I put an attorney general that never took control of @TheJusticeDept, Jeff Sessions. Never took control of the Justice Department.” pic.twitter.com/cCwcJYqJBy
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 23, 2018
Trump has repeatedly berated Sessions for his recusal from the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian election interference.
Sessions’ recusal paved the way for Mueller, which Trump often calls a “witch hunt.”
Earlier this month, Trump said on Twitter that Sessions was “scared stiff and Missing in Action” in defending him against the Russia probe.
[More: Trump shames Sessions: ‘If we had a real Attorney General,’ there would be no Russia investigation]
However, during the Fox News interview, Trump didn’t directly answer whether he planned to fire Sessions or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the special counsel.
“I will stay uninvolved and maybe that’s the best thing to do,” the president said.
Graham on Thursday did warn that firing Sessions ahead of the midterm elections would “create havoc.”
But Graham’s comments come in stark contrast to ones he made in July 2017, when he told reporters that “there will be holy hell to pay” if Trump fired Sessions.
“The president has a right to fire anybody in his Cabinet … I think he should show some respect for Jeff Sessions as a person,” Graham said at the time, calling the attorney general the “most loyal supporter of Donald Trump” and a “rock solid conservative.”
Separately, Grassley told Bloomberg News on Thursday that he does have the time for hearings on nominees “that the president might send up here that I didn’t have last year.”
However, he declined to comment specifically on Sessions when asked about Graham’s comments.
Grassley, R-Iowa, had similarly defended Sessions last summer, warning Trump that he would not hold a confirmation hearing for a new attorney general.
“My agenda is full,” he told CNN in July 2017, adding in a separate tweet that there was “no way” he would hold a hearing for a new attorney general.
