Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, strongly suggested on Wednesday night that he would not allow his panel to consider confirming a replacement this year for Attorney General Jeff Sessions if President Trump were to fire him.
“Everybody in D.C. [should be] warned that the agenda for the judiciary [committee] is set for rest of 2017,” Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote on Twitter. “Judges first subcabinet 2nd / AG no way,” he added, with “AG” referring to attorney general.
Everybody in D.C. Shld b warned that the agenda for the judiciary Comm is set for rest of 2017. Judges first subcabinet 2nd / AG no way
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) July 27, 2017
The Washington Post reported that Trump has discussed with advisers the possibility of avoiding Senate confirmation by trying to install a new attorney general through a recess appointment if Sessions were to resign or be fired by the president.
The White House denied that Trump is considering a recess appointment, releasing a statement to the Post: “More fake news from the Amazon Washington Post.” The Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.com.
Trump’s criticisms about Sessions began last week, when the president told The New York Times that he is disappointed that Sessions recused himself from the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Trump has since publicly criticized the attorney general on Twitter, calling him “beleaguered” and questioning why Sessions hasn’t investigated Hillary Clinton.
