News
Trump Fires Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Names Acting Replacement

President Donald Trump has fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
To be clear: Attorney General Jeff Sessions is fired by President Trump. https://t.co/2zKkLovBI7
— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) November 7, 2018
He submitted his letter of resignation to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.
Sessions’ letter begins, “At your request,” according to MSNBC’s Pete Williams, and it is undated. That would suggest Trump has been holding on to it until he decided to use it.
….We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well! A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018
But White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claims Sessions submitted his letter today. It is not known if that is true.
Former DOJ Chief Spokesperson Matthew Miller on MSNBC reports that Rod Rosenstein would ordinarily be named acting or permanent successor, but Trump “has now reached into the Justice Dept. and picked someone which is hostile to” the Mueller investigation.
The Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale adds this important note on why Trump chose Whitaker:
VERY important: Sessions’s temporary replacement, Matthew Whitaker, is a GOP partisan who wrote a CNN op-ed last year saying the Mueller investigation was going too far and that Rosenstein should order Mueller to limit it: https://t.co/zZDZUsp20o
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 7, 2018
UPDATE: 3:08 PM ET –
Former Senior Advisor to President Obama:
Trump is ending the Mueller investigation right before our eyes and if you expect the Republicans to do anything about it you have been sleepwalking through the last two years
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) November 7, 2018
This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates.
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