WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump drew a sharp rebuttal from his attorney general on Thursday after he gave a mocking assessment of Jeff Sessions as being unable to take control of the Justice Department.
Trump intensified his criticism of the Justice Department in a Fox News interview aired on Thursday as the White House grappled to respond to Tuesday’s conviction of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on multiple fraud counts and guilty plea by Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, which implicated the president.
The Republican president repeated a list of complaints about the Justice Department and the FBI, attacking both without providing evidence they had treated him and his supporters unfairly.
Trump also renewed his criticism of Sessions, blaming him for what he called corruption at the Justice Department.
“I put in an attorney general who never took control of the Justice Department,” Trump said.
Sessions, in a rare rebuttal to Trump, issued a statement defending the integrity of his department.
“I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in,” he said. “… While I am attorney general, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.”