President Trump’s feud with Attorney General Jeff Sessions escalated this week, with multiple GOP senators saying they expect the president to fire his attorney general, likely after the November midterm elections.
Trump has long voiced frustration with Sessions’s decision in March 2017, a month after being installed as attorney general, to recuse himself from all probes involving Russia and its attempts to meddle in the 2016 presidential election.
But their relationship took a new turn on Thursday when Sessions fired back at Trump following sharp criticism from the president. Sessions declared in a rare statement, “While I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.”
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Trump has used that line in a series of tweets over the past few days to hammer Sessions, tying it to the president’s criticism of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe and other Justice Department (DOJ) figures who have been lambasted on the right.
The president’s criticism of Sessions has also escalated in recent weeks, with Trump sending more tweets addressing his attorney general in August than any previous month.
Here are 12 major times Trump has criticized Sessions on Twitter:
July 2017: ‘Our beleaguered A.G.’
Trump has long sought to shift attention away from the federal Russia probe and toward Democrats, repeatedly urging the Justice Department to make them a focus.
In a tweet last summer, the president referred to the attorney general as “beleaguered” in pushing for the shift in federal scrutiny.
July 2017: Sessions ‘VERY weak’ on Clinton’s alleged ‘crimes’
Trump has repeatedly called out Sessions’s personnel decisions, urging him to “drain the swamp” and investigate his former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
He also pushed the attorney general to crack down on leaks coming out of the administration and offered praise for his efforts on the issue in August 2017.
February 2018: ‘Ask Jeff Sessions’ about Obama’s efforts to stop Russia
The president earlier this year sought to pressure the Justice Department and Sessions to investigate the Obama administration over Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s push came after Mueller had secured guilty pleas from several former Trump campaign officials.
February 2018: Trump launches ‘DISGRACEFUL!’ attack
Trump slammed his attorney general over past potential surveillance abuses, saying it was “disgraceful” that Sessions had directed the Justice Department’s inspector general, and not DOJ lawyers, to probe allegations that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was improperly used to monitor members of his transition team.
April 2018: ‘Good luck with that’
Trump voiced exasperation with Sessions earlier this year while alluding to his past calls for the attorney general to investigate the president’s former political rivals.
May 2018: ‘I wish I did’ pick another AG
The president signaled his growing anger over the Russia investigation in May by saying publicly that he regretted picking Sessions — one of Trump’s earliest congressional backers and a staunch ally — to lead the Justice Department.
August 2018: Sessions ‘scared stiff and Missing in Action’
Trump has repeatedly slammed Sessions over several Justice Department officials who have drawn intense scrutiny on the right.
The president recently knocked Sessions in a series of tweets going after former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele and others over a controversial dossier of unverified claims about Trump’s ties to Russia.
Trump accused Sessions of being “scared stiff and Missing in Action.”
August 2018: ‘So unfair Jeff, Double Standard’
Following a rare statement from Sessions pushing back on criticism from Trump, the president took to Twitter to call on Sessions to “look into all of the corruption on the ‘other side.’ “
“Come on Jeff, you can do it, the country is waiting!” Trump wrote.
He also accused the Sessions of having a “double standard” at the DOJ following a conviction for someone who was accused of leaking classified National Security Agency (NSA) documents.
August 2018: Sessions ‘doesn’t understand what is happening’
Trump repeated his pledge Saturday that he “may have to get involved” after accusing the FBI of ignoring emails in its Clinton probe, which ended in 2016.
The president also claimed that Sessions “doesn’t understand what is happening underneath his command” while attacking the special counsel probe.