Trump continues publicly berating his own attorney general

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July 25, 2017 11:31 AM

President Donald Trump has had a strained relationship with Jeff Sessions since the attorney general recused himself from any investigation into Russia.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the US attorney's office in Philadelphia on Friday.

President Donald Trump continued his public criticism of his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions, over Twitter on Tuesday morning.

"Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!" Trump tweeted.

"Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign - 'quietly working to boost Clinton.' So where is the investigation A.G. @seanhannity," Trump tweeted earlier in the morning, apparently attributing the quote to Fox News host Sean Hannity.

As an Alabama senator, Sessions was among Trump's earliest and highest-profile supporters. In March, however, he recused himself from any investigation into connections between Trump's presidential campaign and Russia after it was revealed that he had failed to disclose at least two meetings he had during the campaign with Russia's ambassador to the US.

The president called Sessions "beleaguered" in a tweet Monday.

"So why aren't the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?" Trump tweeted.

It was later reported Monday by the news website Axios that Trump was thinking about bringing former Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York on as attorney general. The Associated Press also reported that Trump had spoken with his advisers about firing Sessions.

Axios reported Tuesday that Trump recently called a political associate and asked, "What would happen if I fired Sessions?"

The new White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, on Tuesday seemed to publicly confirm the president's desire to be rid of his attorney general, telling radio host Hugh Hewitt "it's pretty apparent that Trump wants Sessions gone," according to a producer for Hewitt's show.

In a remarkable admission during an interview with The New York Times last week, Trump said he would not have chosen Sessions to be attorney general had he known Sessions would recuse himself from the Russia investigation.

"Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job, and I would have picked somebody else," Trump told The Times.

Responding to Trump's comments last week, Sessions told reporters he planned to remain in his role "as long as that is appropriate."

Trump also on Tuesday took a shot at acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, whose wife, Jill McCabe, was a Democratic candidate for Virginia state senator in 2015.

"Problem is that the acting head of the FBI & the person in charge of the Hillary investigation, Andrew McCabe, got $700,000 from H for wife!" Trump tweeted.

But as NPR notes, Jill McCabe actually received money from a PAC overseen by Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia, a friend of the Clintons. Additionally, McCabe was never in charge of any investigation into Hillary Clinton.

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