Dem warns of ‘steps’ Senate may take to block Trump on recess appointment

Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.) on Thursday warned of Senate action to prevent President Trump from making a recess appointment to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

“Before we go out on recess, we’re going to take steps to make sure that the president doesn’t have the ability to make a recess appointment,” Coons said on CNN’s “New Day.”

Coons said recess appointments were litigated when former President Barack Obama was in office.

{mosads}”The Supreme Courts made it clear that only if we recess for 10 days or more does the president have the ability to make a recess appointment,” he said.

“And one of the few powers the minority has is to set the terms of adjournment in negotiation with the majority.”

Coons said he has seen some strong statements from Republicans saying they would be upset by the “abrupt firing of the attorney general.”

“I think there’s been some strong pushback both in defense of Attorney General Sessions by his friends and former colleagues here,” he said.

“And I think you will see some tough work by Democrats to make sure that the president doesn’t have a window to make a recess appointment,” he continued.

“And I think that’s a good thing that we’re working in a bipartisan way to make sure that we’re following the regular order and that the Senate isn’t cut out of its constitutional role of advise and consent.”

Trump in recent days has been going after Sessions. He said last week he likely would not have chosen Sessions as attorney general if he had known Sessions was going to recuse himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the presidential election last year.

Trump has targeted Sessions in a series of tweets this week.

A report Wednesday said Trump is mulling over the possibility of appointing a new attorney general while the Senate is away on recess if Sessions resigns.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Trump has discussed the idea with confidants and advisers. But the president has also reportedly been warned not to fire Sessions because of the backlash it would potentially spark.