"I think it would be a big mistake for the president to fire him now," the Arizona senator says.
Sen. Jeff Flake on Sunday warned that firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions would be a “big mistake” for President Donald Trump, downplaying the GOP lawmakers predicting Sessions’ exit later this year as “isolated voices.”
In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Arizona Republican said the concern is that Sessions’ termination “would be the first domino to fall” in the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“Then what happens with [Deputy Attorney General] Rod Rosenstein?” Flake asked. “What happens with [special counsel] Bob Mueller?”
Trump’s feud with his own attorney general reached a new level over the past week as Sessions made a surprise effort to defend himself, releasing a statement saying that the Justice Department will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.
While some Republicans, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S. C.), have started suggesting that Sessions will be gone after the midterm elections, Flake said Sunday that they’re in the minority.
“There may be a few isolated voices saying that the president ought to fire him now,” Flake said. “I can tell you as a body we’re saying, ‘Please don’t.’ He serves at the pleasure of the president. We all know that. But I think it would be a big mistake for the president to fire him now.”
