The tension between Donald Trump and Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III continues to grow. The original source of the rift between Trump and his AG goes back several weeks, to the moment when Sessions decided to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
The friction between the two men stems from the attorney general's abrupt decision in March to recuse himself from anything related to the Russia investigation -- a decision the president only learned about minutes before Sessions announced it publicly. Multiple sources say the recusal is one of the top disappointments of his presidency so far and one the president has remained fixated on.
That Trump ranks Sessions taking himself out of the direct line of fire as one of his “top disappointments” is yet more evidence that Trump isn’t any better at weighing his real issues than he is at anything else. But regardless of its actual import, that crack has continued to widen.
On Tuesday, Sean Spicer refused to provide even the token measure of “confidence” that Trump has expressed in others who were soon to be departing. Instead, Spicer treated to the attorney general to the “I haven’t had that conversation with the president” treatment usually reserved for Trump–Russia issues that Spicer is trying to avoid. The brush off was enough to start Sessions’ allies grumbling.
"Spicer's passive aggressive 'I haven't talked to the President' dance now has him refusing to defend our own attorney general... What an embarrassment. Would he answer the same way if he'd asked about Reince? I don't think so."
If Sessions’ fans didn’t like that one, they’re really not going to like this.
Trump declines to respond when reporters ask if he still has confidence in Sessions. “Thank you,” he mouths, heading to helicopter.
Overnight reports indicated that Sessions offered to resign. However, it appears that the offer was more of a token gesture.
… it's true, as ABC's Jonathan Karl first reported, that Sessions offered to resign. But two sources familiar with the encounter say the resignation was more a gesture than anything that was likely to come to fruition.
That doesn’t mean that Trump can’t decide to take Sessions up on this offer. That seems like a genuine possibility following Trump’s Monday Twitter spat in which he repeatedly complained about the Department of Justice and how it’s not properly defending Trump’s Muslim ban.
Of course, if Sessions’ refusal to run point on Trump’s Russia defense was the primary point of contention, the AG may have earned at least a few brownie points with his latest move.
See? Sessions still knows how to obstruct.