Sessions: Trump hasn’t apologized for Twitter criticism
US attorney general says president 'has right to scold his Cabinet members if he's not happy with them'
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday that President Donald Trump hasn’t apologized for publicly criticizing him on Twitter last month, but that “he has a right to scold his Cabinet members if he’s not happy with them.”
Asked on NBC’s “Today Show” if Trump has apologized, Sessions said he had not. He said Trump “was quite frank about his concerns” and had expressed them.
Trump has seethed at Sessions, his one-time close ally, since the attorney general recused himself from the probe into Russia’s meddling into the 2016 election. The president viewed that decision as disloyal — the most grievous sin in Trump’s orbit.
In an unprecedented display of a president publicly criticizing a sitting member of his own Cabinet, Trump unleashed repeated attacks via Twitter.
He called Sessions “beleaguered” and “very weak” and belittled his decision not to investigate Hillary Clinton. He said he was “disappointed” in Sessions and suggested that, had he known he would recuse himself, he never would had offered him the attorney general post. And he dismissed the value in Sessions’ early endorsement — he was the first senator to back Trump — while privately musing to aides about firing the attorney general.
“We will see what happens,” Trump said of Sessions’ future when asked at a news conference last week. “Time will well. Time will tell.”
Sessions was meeting with Trump and FBI leaders Monday about racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
On CBS’s “This Morning,” Sessions said his relationship with Trump is now “considerably better” and he looks forward to the meeting. He repeated that he’ll serve as long as Trump wants him.