Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Wednesday that President Donald Trump was showing “weakness” by trying to pressure Attorney General Jeff Sessions into resigning from that position, without actually taking any direct action to dismiss Sessions himself.
“The weakness is that the President is trying to not use his power,” Graham told CNN’s Manu Raju. “He’s trying to get Sessions to quit, and I hope Sessions doesn’t quit. And if the President wants to fire him, fire him.”
“You think the President is demonstrating weakness by his handling of Sessions?” Raju asked.
“Absolutely, I think anybody who’s strong would use the power they have and be confident in their decision,” Graham said. “So strong people say, ‘I’ve decided that this man or woman can’t serve me well, and I’m going to act accordingly and take the consequence.’ To me, weakness is when you play around the edges and you don’t use the power you have.”
Graham defended Sessions on Tuesday as well, saying the former Alabama senator and one of Trump’s earliest supporters was “one of the most decent people I’ve ever met in my political life.”
Trump told the New York Times last week that his anger at the attorney general began with Sessions’ recusal from matters related to the 2016 presidential campaign, and Russian meddling therein. That recusal paved the way for the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, to appoint former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel investigation Russian election meddling and a host of related issues.
Watch below via CNN:
GRAHAM tells me that Trump showing signs of “WEAKNESS” in his handling of Jeff Sessions https://t.co/PcEXRYCohL
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 26, 2017
