Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions (all times local):
4 p.m.
Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks is offering to withdraw from a GOP Senate primary if all other Republican candidates also agree to withdraw, paving the way for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to be the party's Senate nominee this fall.
Brooks is a Sessions ally and says he cannot remain silent about the treatment Sessions is receiving from President Donald Trump.
Trump has scorned Sessions, a former Alabama senator, as "very weak" and has refused to say whether he'll fire the nation's top law enforcement officer.
Brooks says he supports Trump's policies, but believes the president's "public waterboarding of one of the greatest people Alabama has ever produced is inappropriate and insulting to the people of Alabama."
While he knows Trump is popular in Alabama, Brooks said, "I stand with Jeff Sessions."
___
10:45 a.m.
President Donald Trump isn't letting up on his Twitter criticism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Trump's tweeted to complain about why Sessions didn't replace the acting FBI director, Andrew McCabe. But it's up to the president to hire — and fire — the bureau's chief.
The president says McCabe was "in charge" of the FBI's Hillary Clinton email investigation, but "got big dollars ($700,000) for his wife's political run from Hillary Clinton and her representatives."
An Associated Press review finds that Trump's misstating facts about McCabe.
McCabe's wife ran for the Virginia Senate in 2015 and received donations from Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Clinton friend and ally. Those donations also happened before the FBI says McCabe was promoted to deputy director of the FBI and took a supervisory role in the email investigation.
McCabe became acting director in May after Trump fired FBI head James Comey.
___
10:20 a.m.
A senior Senate Republican says President Donald Trump's broadsides against Attorney General Jeff Sessions need to end.
Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee says, "I wish it would stop."
Corker, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, spoke Wednesday on Washington Post Live.
Despite Trump's intense criticism of Sessions, Corker says he doesn't get the sense that Trump and his White House staff are taking steps to fire him. Corker says he's not aware of any professional reason for Sessions to step down.
Corker also issued a warning of sorts to the Trump White House, saying he cannot believe the president and his staff would be having serious conversations about removing Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
He says, "That would be a major mistake. A major miscalculation."
__
3:04 a.m.
President Donald Trump is keeping the pressure on Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He scorned him Tuesday as "very weak" and refused to say whether he'll fire the nation's top law enforcement officer and his onetime political ally. It was an extraordinary public rebuke, and even fellow Republicans pushed back forcefully.
All through a day of anything-but-subtle tweets and statements, Trump rued his decision to choose Sessions for his Cabinet and left the former senator's future prospects dangling.
Trump said: "We will see what happens. Time will tell. Time will tell."
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
