OnPolitics Today: Trump trashed Jeff Sessions, who will stay — for now
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In a stunning admission, President Donald Trump said in an interview that he regrets appointing Attorney General Jeff Sessions and would have never done so had he known that Sessions would recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
Time
It’s a classic workplace conundrum: You’re boss drags you in a 50-minute interview with the New York Times, saying he wishes he wouldn’t have hired you, and then you gotta decide the next morning whether to even show up for work.
What, that’s never happened to you? Just Jeff Sessions?
The president trashed his attorney general in the Wednesday interview, saying he’d never have picked Sessions had he known the A.G. would recuse himself from the investigation into Russia and the U.S. election. Ouch.
It’s not the first time Trump’s bashed one his guys in the press (Hi, Steve Bannon), but it gives a glimpse into Trump’s thinking: Sessions’ recusal paved the way for Robert Mueller to head up the Russia investigation, and Donald Trump should be concerned about Robert Mueller.
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Sessions stays put
Yes, Trump can fire Sessions, but that doesn’t mean he should. Political blowback, for one, would be tremendous and people would accuse Trump of interfering with law enforcement — not that that’s stopped Trump before. A White House spokeswoman clarified that Trump approves of Sessions’ performance, at least enough not to fire him. Sessions on Thursday, for his part, said he’d stay on as A.G. “as long as that is appropriate.”
The CBO has devastated GOP health care efforts. Now it might get a raise.
The Congressional Budget Office, which crunches numbers for lawmakers, has dropped major bombs on Republicans’ bids to defeat Obamacare, most recently finding that the GOP plan to repeal and replace it would leave 20 million-plus uninsured. Yet House Republicans want to give it a raise, putting up a $2 million budget increase — the CBO’s biggest in years. The CBO’s director said the funds would help process the glut of health care proposals put forth by the Republican Congress.
McCain’s cancer: What we know now
News of John McCain’s aggressive brain cancer rippled across the country late Wednesday. On Thursday, the senator’s outlook for treatment and timeline for return remained unclear. McCain tweeted on Thursday that he planned to “be back soon” and told followers to “stand by.” His absence complicates things for Republican leaders in the Senate, who desperately needed his vote next week on legislation to repeal Obamacare. The vote is expected to happen anyway.
Trump does Russia a solid on Syria
Trump has decided to halt a CIA program training Syrian moderate rebels in battling the government of Bashar Assad, the Washington Post reported, citing unnamed officials. This is something Russia has wanted for a very long time, and good news for Assad.
Elsewhere in politics:Â
- Trump’s campaign selling ‘fake news’ bumper stickers
- The name ‘Donald’ took a big drop in 2016
- GOP congressman: Trump is a ‘distraction’
- Lawsuits against Trump keep multiplying
- Who else spends big money at Trump properties?Â