2020 Election Year to Feature Bitter Fights, Mudslinging
Democrats are taking aim at Donald Trump
Donald Trump on Jeff Sessions: he ‘talks like he has marbles in his mouth’
After a week of throwing barbs at one another, President Donald Trump took a low blow and criticized Jeff Sessions Thursday on his southern accent, and lack of Ivy League schooling. According to reports from POLITICO, Trump told aides and lawmakers on Wednesday Sessions doesn’t have the “Ivy League pedigree” he prefers, “that he can’t stand his Southern accent and that Sessions isn’t a capable defender of the president on television — in part because he “talks like he has marbles in his mouth.” This is only the latest in a series of insults Trump has hurled at Sessions in the last 10 days, while contemplating firing him. Last week, Trump fired several barbs at Sessions, telling Fox news channel’s “Fox & Friends” that Sessions “took the job and then he said, ‘I’m going to recuse myself.” “[He] never took control of the Justice Department and it’s a sort of an incredible thing,” Trump continued. Sessions then fired back at the president, saying that the DOJ would not be “improperly influenced by political considerations.” Two White House aides said “Trump’s latest push against Sessions was fueled by last week’s conviction of Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen and former campaign manager Paul Manafort,” AL.com reported. Trump has reportedly been discussing firing Sessions for months, airing his frustration with Republican members of the House and Senate, according to CNN. But Sessions isn’t only losing the President’s trust. His former colleagues and evangelical leaders, who once held him in high esteem, are also questioning whether or not he should stay in the AG post. South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told Bloomberg last Thursday that, “The president’s entitled to an attorney general he has faith in, somebody that’s qualified for the job, and I think there will come a time, sooner rather than later, where it will be time to have a new face and a fresh voice at the Department of Justice.” And on Monday, one of the top conservative evangelical leaders in the nation, Jerry Falwell Jr. urged Trump to fire sessions. “He really is not on the president’s team, never was,” Falwell told Politico. “He’s wanted to be attorney general for many, many years. I have a feeling he took a gamble and supported the president because he knew he would reward loyalty.”
Conservative religious leader says Jeff Sessions no longer has evangelical support
One of the top conservative evangelical leaders in the nation is urging President Donald Trump to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions. On Monday, POLITICO reported that Jerry Falwell Jr.,a lawyer and President of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., urged Trump to fire Sessions. “He really is not on the president’s team, never was,” Falwell toldPolitico. “He’s wanted to be attorney general for many, many years. I have a feeling he took a gamble and supported the president because he knew he would reward loyalty.” Sessions has long been a supporter of conservative evangelicals, going so far as to launch a religious liberty task force within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in July, citing a “dangerous movement” to erode religious freedom in America. “A dangerous movement, undetected by many, is now challenging and eroding our great tradition of religious freedom. There can be no doubt. This is no little matter. It must be confronted and defeated,” Sessions told attendees of the Department of Justice’s Religious Liberty Summit. But Sessions “has angered Trump loyalists more recently because the Justice Department has not declassified all materials sought by Republicans in regard to the Russia investigation,” Politico reported. “The president believes Sessions, who recused himself from the Russia probe because of his involvement in the 2016 campaign, has failed to rein in a probe that Trump claims is driven by politics.” Last week, Trump fired several barbs at Sessions, telling Fox news channel’s “Fox & Friends” that Sessions “took the job and then he said, ‘I’m going to recuse myself.” “[He] never took control of the Justice Department and it’s a sort of an incredible thing,” Trump continued. Sessions then fired back at the president, saying that the DOJ would not be “improperly influenced by political considerations.” “A lot of Republicans pretend to be friends to conservatives and the faith community for decades when they really were not,” Falwell continued to tell Politico. “I don’t know if he’s in that category. If he was really a fair person, he’d be going after both sides.”
