White House: No endorsement for Attorney General Jeff Sessions

David M Jackson | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Spicer says he hasn't spoken with Trump about confidence in Sessions When asked about Donald Trump's confidence in U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, White House Spokesperson Sean Spicer said he has not discussed that with the president.

Things appear to be tense between President Trump and one of his longtime supporters, Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Asked Tuesday to comment on a New York Times story that Trump "has grown sour on Mr. Sessions ... blaming him for various troubles that have plagued the White House," presidential spokesman Sean Spicer basically offered no comment.

"I have not had a discussion with him (Trump) about that," Spicer said.

Trump has criticized Sessions for recusing himself from the investigation into any links between Trump's presidential campaign and Russians who sought to influence the election, a decision Trump apparently believes led to the appointment of a special counsel to supervise the case.

Sessions, one of the first prominent lawmakers to endorse Trump during the 2016 campaign, also backed the president's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey, a move critics said was designed to short-circuit the Russia investigation.

On Monday, Trump tweeted criticism of Justice Department strategy in a lawsuit against the president's proposed travel ban from selected Muslim countries.

"The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to" the Supreme Court, one tweet read.

Many saw the tweets as a rebuke of Sessions.

Things became so tense between Trump and Sessions that at one point the attorney general offered to resign, ABC News reported Tuesday night.