The relationship between President Trump and his attorney general,
Jeff Sessions, has become so frayed, Sessions recently suggested that he
could resign from his post, multiple media reports said on Tuesday.
Trump reportedly turned down the offer. The reported offer was not a formal one, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump
has been angry with Sessions-- one of his most vocal and earliest
supporters-- ever since Sessions recused himself in March from the
investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential
election and possible connections between Moscow and Trump campaign
aides.
Sean Spicer, the top White House spokesman, declined to say Tuesday whether Trump has confidence in Sessions.
"I
have not had that discussion with him," Spicer told reporters during a
White House briefing, adding: "if I haven't had a discussion with him
about a subject, I tend not to speak about it."
Charles Krauthammer, a contributor on Fox News, told “Special Report”
that the last time Spicer said he did not speak to Trump about a member
of his administration, then-FBI Director James Comey was fired days later.
“This
is really bad,” Krauthammer said. He went on, “If you can’t absorb this
one issue on which he disagrees and you have to get rid of him, no one
is safe (in the White House).”
ABC News reported that the
frustrations between Trump and Sessions is mutual. The Justice
Department declined to comment for the ABC report. FoxNews.com could not
immediately confirm reports.
The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported
that Sessions told Trump that he needed more freedom to do his job
successfully and he could resign if that was what Trump wanted.
A source told the paper the conversation occurred right before Trump’s overseas trip.
On
Monday, Trump took to Twitter to publicly criticize the department's
legal strategy in defending his proposed travel ban barring the entry of
people from certain Muslim-majority countries.
"The Justice Dept.
should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down,
politically correct version they submitted to S.C.," Trump tweeted
Monday, ignoring the fact that he oversees the department and signed the
second version of the ban.
"The Justice Dept. should ask for an
expedited hearing of the watered down Travel Ban before the Supreme
Court - & seek much tougher version!" he added.
Trump has
denied any collusion with Russia, deriding the story as a "witch hunt"
and "fake news" invented to explain away the Democrats' loss in
November.
The New York Times reported
Monday that Trump partially blames Sessions' decision to recuse himself
from the investigation for the eventual appointment of a special
counsel.