Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) was rebuked by CNN host Kate Bolduan after he tried to blame the media for President Donald Trump’s relentless attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

During an interview with Brat on Thursday, Bolduan asked the Virginia Republican why Trump continues to target his attorney general.

“No one anticipated the 24/7 coverage on the Russia piece, and then Sessions recused himself there,” Brat explained. “Leaving himself with a deputy [attorney general] who called for a special counsel kind of hastily. The special counsel has some Democrat [sic] attorneys that worked for Clinton, etc. I mean, it’s just the whole conglomeration that’s happened since that.”

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“The attorney general acted in the highest ethical principles so I don’t think it’s him,” the congressman added.

“But is the president at fault for making the ‘beleaguered’ attorney general beleaguered?” Bolduan wondered.

“No!” Brat insisted. “The mainstream press has just been relentless. I mean, we see that stats come out this week.”

“No, no, no,” the CNN host interrupted. “No way is the media — as much as I would love more power — there is no way that the media is powerful enough to force a president to talk to the New York Times and say he regrets putting Jeff Sessions in that post, and that Jeff Sessions is weak. The media is not forcing the president to tweet his attacks.”

“I think you did,” Brat replied. “If you’ve got 24/7 coverage and he doesn’t have an A.G. in place to cover the most important issue that the media covers with 90 percent of your coverage. The anchors across the mainstream — you guys, you’re fair to me. I know you’re going to wish me happy birthday today.”

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“Don’t try to throw me off with the happy birthday bit,” Bolduan shot back. “Are you kidding me? The media did not force the president to attack Jeff Sessions.”

“I’m using force in like a bank shot metaphor,” Brat said.

“We didn’t even bank shot,” Bolduan argued back. “We can’t shoot anything. We didn’t do a lay up, we didn’t do a half-court throw. We didn’t!”

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