Will Trump Try to Bypass Senate to Replace Jeff Sessions?

Late Wednesday evening, the Washington Post reported that President Donald Trump has discussed with his advisors the idea of installing a replacement for Attorney General Jeff Sessions while the Senate is in recess.

The president still hasn’t fired Sessions; instead, he’s been relentlessly criticizing the attorney general in the media. Trump appears to be publicly bullying Sessions in the hopes that he’ll resign.

Sessions got on the wrong side of the president when he recused himself from the investigation of possible Russian collusion with Trump’s presidential campaign.

According to the Post, “Trump has long confided privately what he began to say publicly last week — that he blames Sessions’ recusal for setting in motion the appointment of Robert S. Mueller III as the special counsel of the Russia probe, which the president sees as unfair and a metastasizing problem for himself and his family.”

Trump lashed out at Sessions in the media by claiming he would have chosen a different nominee if he’d known in advance about the recusal. The Post reports that according to multiple advisers, lawyers are imploring the president to shut up about both Sessions and Mueller.

Republican lawmakers are furious about the president’s treatment of Sessions, a longtime Senate colleague.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) warned Trump that the Senate has no intention to confirm another attorney general if Sessions is ousted.

Democrats plan to stop the president from making a recess appointment by using parliamentary tactics that prevent the usual recess from occurring at all.