ATTORNEY GENERAL/GOP/JEFF SESSIONS/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Republicans and former Justice Department officials rallied around Attorney General Jeff Sessions as he continued to weather public criticism from President Donald Trump over his decision to recuse himself from investigations into Russia’s election interference, and other concerns.
The defenders voiced their support in response to a flurry of unusual attacks by a president on his top law-enforcement official, who was an early and ardent backer of Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign. In an interview Tuesday [7-25-17] with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Trump said he was ‘very disappointed in Jeff Sessions’ for stepping aside from the probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
‘I’m just looking at it,’ the president said when asked how long he could continue to criticize Mr. Sessions without firing him. ‘I’ll just see. It’s a very important thing.’
Mr. Trump on Monday and Tuesday also tweeted that Mr. Sessions was ‘very weak’ and ‘beleaguered’ for not investigating his electoral opponent, Hillary Clinton, or those who leak intelligence information. During the campaign, Mr. Trump said Mrs. Clinton should be prosecuted and go to jail for sending classified information over a private email server she used as secretary of state. After winning the presidency, Mr. Trump reversed course and said he didn’t think his political rival should be investigated.”
-Del Quentin Wilber, Aruna Viswanatha, and Beth Reinhard, “Republicans, Former DOJ Officials Come to Sessions’ Defense,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 25, 2017 06:44pm