Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., argued Tuesday that President Trump is trying to “bully” Attorney General Jeff Sessions in an attempt to push him out of office, and said that the barbs directed at Sessions speaks to the president’s “character.”
“We should all take a moment to think about how shocking these comments are on a human basis,” Schumer said on the Senate floor about some of Trump’s recent statements. “This was the first person who stumped for Donald Trump, who was with him through thick and thin. And now, even if the president has disagreements with him, which I think are ill-founded, self-centered and wrong, you don’t ridicule him in public, someone who is your close friend. That speaks to character.”
“It’s clear that President Trump is trying to bully his attorney general out of office. How can anyone draw a different conclusion?” Schumer said, wondering why Trump aired his grievances in public and not in person. “He wants him out.”
The comments come in the wake of multiple remarks from Trump questioning Sessions’ job as attorney general, all starting with his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. He told The New York Times in an interview last week that he would never have nominated Sessions if he knew he would recuse himself, and in recent days, Trump has referred to Sessions as his “beleaguered A.G.” and said Tuesday that he has taken a “VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes…& Intel leakers!”
Sessions has maintained that he will not resign.
Schumer also weighed in on the possibility that Trump might fire Sessions in an attempt to fill his position during the August recess in a push to fire Robert Mueller as special counsel of the Russia investigation. He said that Democrats will fight tooth and nail against that possibly happening.
“Before this scheme gains wings, Democrats will never go along with the recess appointment if that situation arises. We have some tools in our toolbox to stymie such action. We’re ready to use every single one of them, anytime day or night,” he said.
“I cannot imagine my friends on the Republican side, particularly in the Republican leadership … would be complicit in creating a constitutional crisis. They must work with us and not open the door to a constitutional crisis during the August recess.”
