AG Sessions - Turning Point USA HS Leadership Summit Remarks Attorney General Jeff Sessions will deliver remarks at Turning Point USA's High School Leadership Summit OPEN PRESS (Camera Preset for K9 security sweep: 7:30 a.m. EDT // Final access time for print media without gear: 8:45 a.m. EDT) NOTE: All media must RSVP and present government-issued photo I.D. (such as a driver's license) as well as valid media credentials. (CNN has RSVP'd) US President Donald Trump applauds after addressing supporters at a Faith and Freedom Coalition event in Washington DC on June 08, 2017. President Donald Trump avoided directly responding to explosive accusations made by his ex-FBI director Thursday, but sought to rally supporters behind a message of defiance. "We are going to fight and win" Trump said, addressing supporters at a Faith and Freedom Coalition event in the capital. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R) delivers remarks during the daily White House press briefing March 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. Sessions announced new actions against sanctuary cities that seek Justice Department grants during his surprise appearance. Also pictured is White House press secretary Sean Spicer President Donald Trump stands with Attorney General Jeff Sessions on December 15, 2017 in Quantico, Virginia, before participating in the FBI National Academy graduation ceremony. US President Donald Trump sits with Attorney General Jeff Sessions on December 15, 2017 in Quantico, Virginia, before participating in the FBI National Academy graduation ceremony. Pastor to Sessions: Repent, help those in need WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Jeff Sessions will travel to Boston, Massachusetts, on Monday, October 29, 2018 to give remarks to the Boston Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society on the Future of Religious Liberty. US President Donald Trump applauds after addressing supporters at a Faith and Freedom Coalition event in Washington DC on June 08, 2017. President Donald Trump avoided directly responding to explosive accusations made by his ex-FBI director Thursday, but sought to rally supporters behind a message of defiance. "We are going to fight and win" Trump said, addressing supporters at a Faith and Freedom Coalition event in the capital. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R) delivers remarks during the daily White House press briefing March 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. Sessions announced new actions against sanctuary cities that seek Justice Department grants during his surprise appearance. Also pictured is White House press secretary Sean Spicer US Attorney General Jeff Sessions looks on during a press conference regarding the arrest of bombing suspect Cesar Sayoc in Florida, at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC on October 26, 2018. - The suspect has been charged with five federal crimes in connection with more than a dozen suspicious packages sent in a US mail bombing spree, Sessions said. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo credit should read ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images) Trump on Sessions: What kind of man is this? (CNN) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired back at President Donald Trump Thursday afternoon, after Trump said he “never took control” of the Justice Department. “While I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations. I demand the highest standards, and where they are not met, I take action. However, no nation has a more talented, more dedicated group of law enforcement investigators and prosecutors than the United States,” Sessions said in a statement. “I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in, which is why we have had unprecedented success at effectuating the President’s agenda – one that protects the safety and security and rights of the American people, reduces violent crime, enforces our immigration laws, promotes economic growth, and advances religious liberty.” “I am proud to serve with them and proud of the work we have done in successfully advancing the rule of law,” he added. Trump has frequently criticized Sessions since taking office and often expresses frustration over the attorney general’s decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. The assertion from the attorney general that he has in fact taken control of the Justice Department comes after the President lashed out at Sessions in an interview that aired on Fox News Thursday morning. After months of attacks, Sessions spoke up on Thursday in part because the President said on Fox News that he “never took control of the Justice Department” – a “macro” criticism that struck a different tone than Trump’s more granular gripes on Twitter about different individual cases like former FBI employees Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, according to a source familiar with the attorney general’s thinking. “I put in an attorney general who never took control of the Justice Department. Jeff Sessions, never took control of the Justice Department. It’s sort of an incredible thing,” Trump said during the interview. Trump said during the interview that even his “enemies” have told him that Sessions should have informed him he was planning to recuse himself so that he could have picked a different attorney general. “What kind of a man is this?,” Trump said, recalling his reaction when he found out that Sessions decided to recuse. Earlier this month, Trump escalated his criticism of the nation’s top law enforcement officer when he said in a tweet that Sessions is “scared stiff and Missing in Action.” Trump’s criticism of the Justice Department has gone further than just targeting Sessions. “Everybody sees what’s going on in the Justice Department, I always put justice now with quotes,” Trump said during the Fox News interview. Trump did not directly answer whether he plans to fire Sessions or deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia investigation, when asked during the Fox News interview. The last time the attorney general fired back at the President was months ago. Sessions pushed back after Trump chastised him in late February over an investigation into alleged surveillance abuses, calling his approach “disgraceful” in a tweet. In response, Sessions defended his work and the department in a statement, saying, “As long as I am the attorney general, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution.” Sessions met with the President at the White House Thursday, along with aides Jared Kushner and Mercedes Schlapp, to discuss prison reform. A White House official said Sessions was not fired, and there was no resignation. Another source familiar with the meeting said nothing negative regarding Sessions’ future as attorney general came up during the gathering. This source said the meeting was a “win” for Sessions as Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley’s prison reform bill was “shelved” by the White House. The President is not on board with the bill, the source said. A separate source who was in the room for the meeting says Trump and Sessions had a cordial meeting discussing prison reform. Neither of them raised their public exchange of criticism of one another. CNN’s Jim Acosta, Jeremy Diamond and Phil Mattingly contributed to this report<doc-sep>Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired back against President Donald Trump on Thursday, saying the Justice Department will not be "improperly influenced by political considerations." Earlier, Trump attacked him on television, asking "what kind of a man is this?" "I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in, which is why we have had unprecedented success at effectuating the President's agenda," Sessions said in the statement, which was posted on Twitter by Justice Department spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores. During an interview that aired hours earlier on "Fox & Friends," Trump said Sessions "never took control of the Justice Department," criticizing the former Alabama senator for recusing himself from the investigation into possible links between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. Sessions "took the job and then he said, 'I'm going to recuse myself.' I said what kind of a man is this?" Trump said in the interview.<doc-sep>Attorney General Sessions fired back at President Donald Trump on Thursday after the commander in chief said his top law enforcement official "never took control" of the Justice Department. In an unusual statement, Sessions said, “I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in, which is why we have had unprecedented success at effectuating the President’s agenda." "While I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations," Sessions added. "I demand the highest standards, and where they are not met, I take action." The formal response marked a rare instance of pushback from Sessions, who despite facing repeated and harsh criticism from Trump — as well as calls from him to end special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation — has largely refrained from replying. Sessions, who was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump during the 2016 race, provoked his boss's ire when he announced last year that he would recuse himself from any federal probe into Russian election meddling. In his latest attack on Sessions, Trump slammed his attorney general for the decision, saying he didn't take control of the Justice Department. "I put in an attorney general that never took control of the Justice Department, Jeff Sessions," Trump told "Fox and Friends" in a taped interview that aired Thursday. "It's an incredible thing." Trump told "Fox and Friends" that "Sessions shouldn't have recused himself” or at least, "should have told me." "He took the job and then he said, 'I'm going to recuse myself,'" the president said. "I said, 'What kind of man is this?' And by the way, he was on the campaign. The only reason I gave him the job, I felt loyalty. He was an original supporter." But when asked whether he would fire Sessions or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who, because of Sessions' recusal has authority over the Mueller probe, Trump said he wants "to stay uninvolved." Trump has criticized Sessions several times since the attorney general announced his recusal in March 2017. In May 2017, Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, which ultimately led Rosenstein to appoint Mueller as special counsel. Earlier this month, Trump called on Sessions to end the Mueller probe, and in July, he ripped him as "very weak." In June, he directly criticized Sessions in a tweet for removing himself from overseeing Mueller, saying if he had known the attorney general would do that, he would have appointed someone else to that position instead. The mounting criticism has led many, even top Republicans, to speculate about Sessions' fate. On Thursday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., suggested to Bloomberg News that Trump could fire his attorney general, but not until after the November midterm elections. Later, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., in a speech on the Senate floor, said it would be a "very, very, very bad idea to fire" Sessions "because he's not executing his job as a political hack" and that he felt the attorney general was "doing his job honorably." Sasse added that he found it "difficult to envision any circumstance" under which he'd vote to confirm a successor to Sessions if Sessions were fired for political reasons. Mueller's wide-ranging investigation has so far secured guilty pleas, including from Trump’s former national security adviser, and the indictments of at least 32 people and three Russian firms. The confluence of bad news has prompted chatter that Democrats might try to impeach Trump if they take the House in the November midterms. But in his Fox interview Thursday, Trump said that if he were to be impeached, "everybody would be very poor." "I don't know how you can impeach somebody who's done a great job," Trump said, adding that if he were to be removed from office, the "market would crash." "Everybody would be very poor," he said.<doc-sep>
WASHINGTON – In the face of new and threatening criticism from President Donald Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired back Thursday, declaring he would "not be improperly influenced by political considerations." "I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in, which is why we have had unprecedented success at effectuating the president’s agenda – one that protects the safety and security and rights of the American people, reduces violent crime, enforces our immigration laws, promotes economic growth, and advances religious liberty," Sessions said in a written statement. Sessions went on to defend the department, which Trump has subjected to months of withering attacks. Those assaults escalated this week with the conviction of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and the guilty plea entered by former Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen. "While I am attorney general, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations," Sessions said. "I demand the highest standards, and where they are not met, I take action. However, no nation has a more talented, more dedicated group of law enforcement investigators and prosecutors than the United States. "I am proud to serve with them and proud of the work we have done in successfully advancing the rule of law." Sessions' statement came just hours after Trump offered a blistering critique of Sessions during an interview on "Fox & Friends." Asked whether he intended to fire Sessions or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after the midterm elections, Trump didn't dismiss the idea. The president went into detail about his frustrations with Sessions and the attorney general's decision to recuse himself from overseeing the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. Sessions' recusal put the case in the hands of Rosenstein who appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to lead the day-to-day inquiry. Sessions "took the job, then he said, 'I'm going to recuse myself,'" Trump said in the interview. "I said, 'What kind of a man is this?'" He said the only reason Sessions was given a job was because of his loyalty to the campaign. Trump dismissed Sessions' as someone who "hasn't taken charge" of the Justice Department. "Even my enemies say that Jeff Sessions should have told you that he was going to recuse himself," Trump said. Trump's comments echoed across the capital where some Republican lawmakers jumped to Sessions' defense. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., called the president's criticism "goofy talk." "It would be a very, very, very bad idea to fire the attorney general because he's not executing his job as a political hack," Sasse said. "The attorney general's job is to be faithful to the Constitution and to the rule of law." Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, called Sessions a "quintessential Boy Scout," who had "dedicated himself" to the Justice Department. "And I know this is a difficult position for him to be in, but I think it would be bad for the country, it would be bad for the president, it would be bad for the Department of Justice for him to be forced out under these circumstances," Cornyn said. "So, I hope he stays the course and I hope cooler heads prevail." Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., however, signaled that a change was likely but not before the mid-term elections. Graham said the president was "entitled to an attorney general he has faith in." The South Carolina senator's remarks represented a potential important break among some Republicans who have credited Sessions with backing the president's agenda, specifically on immigration enforcement. In an interview with Bloomberg, Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, also suggested that there might be room to consider a new nominee. "I do have time for hearings on nominees that the president might send up here that I didn’t have last year,” Grassley said.