WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined Morning Joe to discuss President Trump's recent comments about Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

“I think there's going to be widespread opposition to an abrupt firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions,” said Senator Coons. “Attorneys general pledged their loyalty to the United States Constitution, not to an individual president, and President Trump doesn't seem to understand that. His repeated harassment of Jeff Sessions based on his recusal suggests he just doesn't understand that.”

“During the Obama administration, Republicans then in the minority in the Senate for much of it refused to recess, so every three days we would have what's called a pro forma session, that's what I think will block, so there is a confirmation hearing at which I would expect Republicans and Democrats would raise tough questions about this ongoing Russia investigation, about whether the next attorney general would agree to fire Bob Mueller, because I think that's what's really President Trump's objective here is to put in place an attorney general who will fire Bob Mueller,” said Senator Coons. 

Full audio and video available here.

Excerpts from the interview:

Senator Coons on Attorney General Jeff Sessions: First, I think the Senate will take action to make sure the president can't make a recess appointment, that once we leave for our August recess or what's left of it, that the president doesn't have the opportunity to appoint someone as attorney general without the appropriate review and consent by the United States Senate. Second, I think there's going to be widespread opposition to an abrupt firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Attorneys general pledged their loyalty to the United States Constitution, not to an individual president, and President Trump doesn't seem to understand that. His repeated harassment of Jeff Sessions based on his recusal suggests he just doesn't understand that. So I think we would see strong and bipartisan resistance to the firing of Jeff Sessions, and I think the president would have great difficulty getting a successor attorney general confirmed in the Senate without confirmation hearings and those confirmation hearings would focus on the importance of the independence of the attorney general which is exactly the topic the president seems to want to avoid. 

 More on Sessions: No, let me be clear. We'll try to block a recess appointment so the president can appoint someone without a confirmation hearing or a vote by the Senate during a full recess. During the Obama administration, Republicans then in the minority in the Senate for much of it refused to recess, so every three days we would have what's called a pro forma session, that's what I think will block so there is a confirmation hearing at which I would expect Republicans and Democrats would raise tough questions about this ongoing Russia investigation, about whether the next attorney general would agree to fire Bob Mueller, because I think that's what's really President Trump's objective here is to put in place an attorney general who will fire Bob Mueller. 

 Senator Coons on whether President Trump can fire Bob Mueller: That’s correct, he cannot fire him, himself. That has to be done through the Department of Justice since the attorney general recused himself from oversight of the investigation, it would have to be Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general. If the deputy attorney general refused to do so it would go to his deputy and so forth, just as happened in 1974 when a series of folks resigned. 

 More on Sessions and Mueller: What am I drawing on to reach the conclusion that the president can't directly fire the special counsel? Well, I haven't reread the statute this morning, but it's my impression that the special counsel serves at the pleasure of the attorney general and that there are certain standards for his removal and that his removal is only at the pleasure of the attorney general. I may be wrong about that. I'm happy to review the statute. 

 More on Sessions and President Trump’s tweet on Murkowski: No. One of the things about this moment where the president is harassing Attorney General Sessions that is relevant here is that loyalty is an important value in politics. Senator Sessions really stuck his neck out for President Trump, really campaigned hard for him, and gave him credibility in the conservative movement in the United States and the idea that the president would personally attack the senator from Alaska who is widely respected for her independent streak will frankly only help her I think in her home state of Alaska which has a long tradition of charting their own path and of not necessarily following any particular president or his leadership. There were lots of legitimate questions on the floor last night, not least of which what Senator McCain said in his speech about where they're going. There were 50 Republican senators who voted to get on the bill but then the bill that was taken up wasn't passed. Nine Republican senators voted against it. It's unclear where they're going, and I think Senator Murkowski's vote against going on the bill was because there's no clear path forward. 

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