President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions Wednesday, following a year-long public shaming campaign that has raised questions about whether the president improperly interfered with the Justice Department’s inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Trump, who requested Sessions' resignation, named the attorney general's chief of staff Matthew Whitaker to serve as interim attorney general.
The departure of Sessions, once one of Trump’s most vocal and earliest supporters during the 2016 campaign, has been expected for weeks yet the move immediately exposed new divisions between the president and many Republican lawmakers who regard Sessions as a champion of the conservative movement.
Laser-focused on Sessions' decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, Trump has savaged him in interviews, tweets, and press conferences as "beleaguered" and often expressing "disappointment" in his attorney general.
In September, Trump took his criticism to a new level when he appeared to completely disassociate Sessions with the administration, including the attorney general's border enforcement efforts.
“I don’t have an attorney general. It’s very sad,” Trump said in an interview with Hill.TV. “I’m not happy at the border, I’m not happy with numerous things, not just this.”
We are pleased to announce that Matthew G. Whitaker, Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice, will become our new Acting Attorney General of the United States. He will serve our Country well….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018
….We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well! A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018
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