Corker: Trump should stop ‘whining’ about Sessions
GOP Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.) said on Tuesday that President Trump should stop “whining” about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who he predicted is likely to get fired after the midterm elections in November.
“I think we all understand it’s likely he’s going to terminate him after the midterms. In the interim, I think it would be best if he stopped whining about Sessions. It’s unbecoming,” Corker told reporters.
{mosads}Trump took his latest shot at the embattled Justice Department official over the long Labor Day weekend, appearing to blame him for two investigations into GOP congressmen — which he said could cost Republicans in the midterm elections.
“Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff…” Trump said in a tweet on Monday.
Some GOP senators have denounced the president’s rhetoric. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters on Tuesday that she thought Trump’s tweet was “appalling.”
But others, including Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, have declined to comment.
Corker added on Tuesday that Trump doesn’t have a “healthy respect” for the country’s democratic institutions.
“I don’t think the president sometimes understands how degrading he is to our institutions in saying things like that nor how he helps exacerbate the disillusion people have here in our country with where we are,” Corker said.
Republicans hold a slim majority in the Senate, meaning they could confirm a successor for Sessions without help from Democrats.
But the administration could face a challenge in keeping Republicans united behind a nomination if Sessions is fired over Trump’s long-running frustration that he recused himself from the investigation into Russia’s election interference.
Corker added on Tuesday that the more Trump comments, the higher the bar is for a successor for Sessions.
“I think he’s going to have a tremendous difficulty … finding someone who will rise to the level that I think it will take here in the Senate for that confirmation to occur,” Corker said.
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