Attorney General Jeff Sessions' rebuttal comes after Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested he may be out of a job “sooner rather than later.” | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Sessions offers rare public smack at Trump The beleaguered attorney general says the Justice Department won't be 'improperly influenced by political considerations.'

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday took the unusual step of publicly pushing back against Donald Trump after the president freshly ripped into his top law enforcement official for recusing himself from the Russia probe.

The rare statement from Sessions also came after two prominent senators expressed acceptance to the idea that Trump may oust his attorney general, despite the furor that such a move would inevitably unleash.


In a statement posted on Twitter by DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores, Sessions said that “the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations,” and that the department had, under him, “unprecedented success at effectuating the president's agenda, one that protects the safety and security and rights of the American people, reduces crime and enforces our immigration laws, promotes economic growth, and advances liberty.”

Trump has regularly bashed Sessions after he recused himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, which is now supervised by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and has proven a major legal headache for the White House.

Trump has also criticized his attorney general for not looking into certain issues at the president's request, like FISA warrants for members of his presidential campaign, as well as actions by his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton. He has also accused the department of slow-walking documents related to the Russia probe.

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Trump on Wednesday again criticized Sessions, saying that he "never took control of the Justice Department."

“Jeff Sessions recused himself, which he shouldn’t have done, or he should have told me,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News. “He took my job, and then he said, ‘I’m going to recuse myself.’ I said, ‘What kind of man is this?’”

Sessions, in his statement, disputed Trump's claim, saying, "I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in."

Sessions' pushback to Trump was part of a remarkable skirmish for position between a president and his own attorney general that continued later in the day.

Shortly after the release of the statement, Sessions huddled with Trump to discuss a pending prison reform bill, and a source familiar with the meeting said the bill had been shelved at Sessions' urging. The source described it as an "unequivocal win for the AG." The White House has yet to officially announce Trump's position on the measure.

But in an ominous sign for Sessions, support for the attorney general appeared to be slipping among some key Senate Republicans.

Sen. Lindsey Graham earlier on Thursday hinted that Trump may fire Sessions following the midterm elections, and predicted that "sooner rather than later" a new face would lead the Justice Department.

"Replacing him before the election, to me, before would be a nonstarter, but the idea of having a new attorney general in the first term of President Trump's administration, I think is very likely," Graham told reporters.

"The president is 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 force at the Department of Justice," Graham also said.

Graham’s comments are a shift from previous stances he’s taken on the issue. Last summer, he told NBC that there would be “holy hell to pay” in the Senate if Sessions was forced out.

The comments from Graham also amount to something of a turf war in the Senate. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has the option of becoming Finance chairman after the election, which would put Graham in charge of Judiciary — and any confirmation of Sessions' replacement.

Grassley, for his part, also seemed shift on the issue of confirming a new attorney general. A year ago he tweeted that the schedule for his committee was packed through 2017 and that there was “no way” they would be able to confirm a second attorney general.

But on Thursday he told Bloomberg that “I do have time for hearings on nominees that the president might send up here that I didn’t have last year.”

Still, Sessions’ ouster would provoke fresh accusations that Trump was trying to influence the Mueller probe, which arguably gained new credibility after a jury this week found former Trump campaign chairman guilty of bank and tax fraud — the first big legal test for Mueller’s team.

Mueller’s team is already investigating whether Trump tried to obstruct justice by firing FBI Director James Comey, and has interviewed White House counsel Don McGahn about the pressure Trump has put on Sessions regarding the probe.

The friction between Trump and Sessions over his recusal became so intense that Sessions at one point last year offered to resign.

Sessions — who served in the Senate for 20 years before joining Trump’s administration — has long enjoyed the support of many of his former colleagues, but some Republicans once aligned with Sessions declined to back him up on Thursday.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas referred a reporter to his press office and Sen. David Perdue of Georgia, a close Trump ally, said he had no opinion either way.

"Is that up again?" Perdue said. "I haven't heard anything like that. I don't have any opinion."

Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, however, said he wanted Sessions to stay on. "Yes. I have no problems with his performance," Wicker said.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn praised Sessions, and advised Trump not to fire him. Cornyn added that no one else would be able to get confirmed to replace Sessions at DOJ.

"We don’t have time nor is there a likely candidate who could get confirmed” in the current political climate, Cornyn said.

Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby seemed wary of the idea. “The president makes his own decisions, as we all do,” he said, adding that “I won’t give the president advice” and pointing to the visible tension between the two.

Asked if the Senate had time to confirm another attorney general amid a looming government funding deadline this fall and a push to have Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh confirmed by the midterms, Shelby expressed skepticism.

“Our hands are full,” he said, “but we also have some opportunities here” also noting that Trump “seems [like] he’s got his hands full” as well.

Burgess Everett contributed to this report.