Despite Trump's current distancing himself from Whitaker, two Republicans close to the president said he had enjoyed Whitaker's TV appearances and the two had struck a bond. Those TV appearances included one on CNN in which Whitaker suggested that the Mueller probe could be starved of resources.Trump told associates that he felt Whitaker would be "loyal" and would not have recused himself from the Russia pr obe as Sessions had done, according to the Republicans, who were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations and commented only on condition of anonymity.