Attorney General Jeff Sessions says President Trump has every right to attack him.

Appearing on several national morning television shows on Monday to defend Trump’s response to the violence in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend, Sessions was asked about the president’s withering public critique of his own attorney general.

“Has the president apologized for his kind of public scolding of you?” NBC’s Savannah Guthrie asked Sessions on the “Today” show.

“Well, I believe in the president’s agenda; his leadership,” Sessions replied. “He has a right to scold his Cabinet members if he’s not happy with them. And he has the right to have people in his Cabinet he believes will serve his agenda.”

"Has the president apologized for his kind of public scolding of you?" –@savannahguthrie asks AG Sessions pic.twitter.com/F08RVJPeEL — TODAY (@TODAYshow) August 14, 2017





Last month, Trump slammed Sessions in a series of caustic tweets. The president also described the attorney general as “beleaguered” amid reports that he was considering firing him.

On Friday, Trump was asked by reporters to describe his relationship with Sessions.

“It’s fine,” the president replied. “It is what it is. It’s fine.”

On “CBS This Morning,” Sessions was asked how he sees his relationship with Trump now.

“I think it’s considerably better,” he said, adding that he is “looking forward” to meeting with Trump and FBI leaders in Washington, D.C., on Monday morning.

Sessions was also asked how long he expects to be the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

“I intend to serve as long as I can make a contribution and as long as the president wants me to serve,” Sessions said. “He can have his attorney general be someone else if he chooses. He can ask me to depart. But I intend to fulfill my duties. I feel good about what we’re accomplishing. I feel like we are accomplishing the president’s agenda in an effective and professional way.”

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Trump, who condemned “many sides” for the violence in Charlottesville, has faced widespread criticism for not explicitly calling out the torch-bearing white supremacists who gathered there to protest the removal of a Confederate statue.

Sessions said that he expects Trump to address Charlottesville again on Monday.

“He is a strong leader; he is an outspoken leader,” Sessions said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “He expresses himself in clear and blunt terms. When the American people elected him, I think that was one of the things they liked about him. And I think he’ll be honest and direct with the American people as soon as he talks to them again.”

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