Politics

Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale says it is 'time to fire' Attorney General Jeff Sessions and 'end the Mueller investigation'

Key Points
  • President Trump's 2020 re-election campaign manager, Brad Parscale, tweeted Tuesday that it is "time to fire" Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
  • Parscale also called for an end to special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
  • And he said that a recent report by the Justice Department's inspector general into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state justifies ending Mueller's inquiry.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Washington, June 13, 2018.
Jim Bourg | Reuters

Brad Parscale, the manager for President Donald Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, on Tuesday said it was "time to fire" Trump's attorney general, Jeff Sessions, and to end the ongoing special counsel's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Parscale also claimed in a tweet that a report issued by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General gave Trump ammunition to end special counsel Robert Mueller's probe.

Tweet

A spokesman for Sessions declined to comment.

Trump last week claimed that the IG's report, which focused on the FBI's investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state, "totally exonerates me."

That is not true, because the report does not resolve questions that Mueller is looking into.

The report does address anti-Trump texts by an FBI official detailed to Mueller's team, but that official, Peter Srzok, was removed from the team last summer after Mueller learned of the messages.

And it is unusual, at the very least, for the manager of a presidential re-election campaign to publicly call for the ouster of one of the incumbent president's top Cabinet officials, as Sessions is.

But Sessions has been out of favor with Trump since last year because of his recusal from any Justice Department inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election and any possible collusion by Trump campaign officials with Russians. And Trump has not been shy about blasting Sessions on Twitter, even as he reportedly refuses to say his name out loud in the White House.

Tweet

After Sessions recused himself on those areas, and after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey last year, Session's deputy, Rod Rosenstein, appointed former FBI chief Mueller to handle the investigations into those areas.

Mueller since has indicted Trump's 2016 presidential campaign boss Paul Manafort on multiple charges related to his consulting work for a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine. Manafort's associate, former Trump campaign official Rick Gates, has pleaded guilty in that same case to conspiracy and making a false statement.

Mueller currently is seeking to interview Trump as part of his ongoing inquiry, which among other things is looking into whether the president has obstructed justice by firing Comey and other actions, such as asking Sessions to un-recuse himself.