Robert Mueller is investigating, inter alia, Trump's attempts to get rid of the Attorney General. Those have included Trump's decisions to fire Sessions, twice as I recall, only to be talked out of it and his insulting tweets, one just today. The New York Times reports today on an attempt that "has not been previously reported."
After Sessions announced his recusal Trump refused to take his phone calls. Sessions had called him to talk about immigration and Trump wouldn't talk to him. So Sessions flew to Trump's Mar-a-Lago dacha. There, according to the Times, Trump "berated Mr. Sessions and told him he should reverse his decision, an unusual and potentially inappropriate request." Sessions refused.
"When...Trump learned of the recusal, he asked advisers whether the decision could be reversed, according to people briefed on the matter. Told no, Mr. Trump argued that Eric H. Holder Jr., President Barack Obama’s first attorney general, would never have recused himself from a case that threatened to tarnish Mr. Obama. The president said he expected the same loyalty from Mr. Sessions."
It was the same demand made of James Comey at a one-on-one dinner at the White House. Comey demurred.
Mueller has interviewed Sessions, "And of the four dozen or so questions Mr. Mueller wants to ask Mr. Trump, eight relate to Mr. Sessions. Among them: What efforts did you make to try to get him to reverse his recusal?"
Today, Trump tweeted "I wish I did!" pick somebody other than Sessions for Attorney General.
"[Mueller's] interest demonstrates Mr. Sessions’s overlooked role as a key witness in the investigation into whether Mr. Trump tried to obstruct the inquiry itself."
After Sessions announced his recusal Trump refused to take his phone calls. Sessions had called him to talk about immigration and Trump wouldn't talk to him. So Sessions flew to Trump's Mar-a-Lago dacha. There, according to the Times, Trump "berated Mr. Sessions and told him he should reverse his decision, an unusual and potentially inappropriate request." Sessions refused.
"When...Trump learned of the recusal, he asked advisers whether the decision could be reversed, according to people briefed on the matter. Told no, Mr. Trump argued that Eric H. Holder Jr., President Barack Obama’s first attorney general, would never have recused himself from a case that threatened to tarnish Mr. Obama. The president said he expected the same loyalty from Mr. Sessions."
It was the same demand made of James Comey at a one-on-one dinner at the White House. Comey demurred.
Mueller has interviewed Sessions, "And of the four dozen or so questions Mr. Mueller wants to ask Mr. Trump, eight relate to Mr. Sessions. Among them: What efforts did you make to try to get him to reverse his recusal?"
Today, Trump tweeted "I wish I did!" pick somebody other than Sessions for Attorney General.
"[Mueller's] interest demonstrates Mr. Sessions’s overlooked role as a key witness in the investigation into whether Mr. Trump tried to obstruct the inquiry itself."
