Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University and a staunch supporter of President Trump, joined the criticism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday, calling him a “phony.”
Falwell Jr. recounted via Twitter that Sessions showed up on the Liberty University campus the night before the 2016 election.
“I told students but could get almost none of them to come hear him. Could it be our students were the first to see he was a phony pretending to be pro- @realDonaldTrump ?” Falwell Jr. asked.
{mosads}Falwell piled on after a day during which Trump called on Sessions to halt the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, marking an escalation in the president’s furor over the probe.
The White House and the president’s lawyers later claimed that Trump was not issuing a directive, but was merely expressing an opinion.
Sessions, who served as a top Trump campaign adviser, recused himself in March 2017 from the Russia probe after it was revealed he failed to disclose a conversation he had with Russia’s U.S. ambassador during the 2016 race.
As a result, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is overseeing the investigation. Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel in May 2017, after Trump fired James Comey as FBI director.
Sessions has been a common target for criticism from the president. Trump has said on multiple occasions that he would not have picked Sessions for attorney general if he had known he would recuse himself from the Russia probe.