Trump: I might fire Sessions because he was only hired for his personal loyalty

It seems so long ago that the president claimed he only hires "the best people."

thinkprogress.org

Still reeling from the twin embarrassments of his campaign chairman being convicted on eight criminal counts and his former executive vice president and special counsel pleading guilty to eight more, President Donald Trump took aim at his own handpicked Justice Department leadership in a Fox & Friends interview aired Thursday morning. In the interview, he indicated that he might well fire his attorney general for being too impartial.

Host Ainsley Earhardt asked about rumors that Trump planned to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after the November midterm elections. In response, Trump unloaded on both.

“I wanted to stay uninvolved,” he claimed. “But when everybody sees what’s going on in the Justice Department, I always put ‘Justice’ now with quotes.”

“It’s a very, very sad day,” he continued, lamenting that Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation after he made false statements in his confirmation hearing. Trump lamented that unnamed political opponents agree that Sessions should have warned him in advance of being nominated that he would make false statements during his confirmation hearing, get caught, and need to recuse himself. “Even my enemies say that ‘Jeff Sessions should have told you that he was going to recuse himself and then you wouldn’t have put him in.’ He took the job and then he said I’m going to recuse myself. I said, ‘what kind of a man is this?‘”

Trump, who had campaigned on a promise to hire only “the best people” for his administration and to “drain the swamp” of political corruption, then admitted that he picked Sessions not for his qualifications or competence but as a thank-you for his perceived loyalty.

“The only reason I gave him the job, because I felt loyalty. He was an original supporter. He was on the campaign.”

Trump, who had campaigned on a promise to hire only “the best people” for his administration and to “drain the swamp” of political corruption, then admitted that he picked Sessions not for his qualifications or competence but as a thank-you for his perceived loyalty.

“The only reason I gave him the job, because I felt loyalty. He was an original supporter. He was on the campaign.”

• Barack Obama was not born in the United States
• Muslims should be banned from entering the United States
• Part of the beauty of me is that I’m very rich
• Called women “fat pigs”
• Mocked a disabled reporter
• Said he would force the military to commit war crimes
• Proposed to create a data base to track Muslims
• Said must strongly consider shutting down Mosques
• Repeatedly praises Vladimir Putin
• Congratulated himself on statements regarding Islam after the shooting in Orlando at Pulse nightclub
• Said a judge born in the United States to parents of Mexican heritage could not be impartial
• “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said. “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.” (referring to John McCain)
• “You know, it really doesn’t matter what the media write as long as you’ve got a young, and beautiful, piece of ass.”
• “All I know is what’s on the Internet.” (That’s what you want to hear from a Presidential candidate)
• “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re not sending you, they’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bring crime. They’re rapists… And some, I assume, are good people.”
• “Our great African-American President hasn’t exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore.” 
• “I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.” 
• “I have never seen a thin person drinking Diet Coke.” 
• “The point is, you can never be too greedy.“ 
• “If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband what makes her think she can satisfy America?”
• “I would bring back waterboarding and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.“ 
• “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. In my opinion, she was off-base.” (Talking about Megyn Kelly)
• “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that — the face of our next president!?” (Talking about Carly Fiorina)
• “I think — I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me.“ 
• "They said, ‘Mr. Trump, there may be someone with tomatoes in the audience.’ So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Okay? Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay the legal fees." 
• "She just said a terrible thing. You know what she said? Shout it out. [Audience member shouts.] Okay, you’re not allowed to say, and I never expect to hear that from you again. She said — I never expect to hear that from you again! — she said: ‘He’s a pussy.’ That’s terrible.” (Even Trump’s wife scolded him for this comment)
• “There’s a guy, totally disruptive, throwing punches; we’re not allowed to punch back anymore. I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks."  (Lynch mobs are what he is referring to)
• "If I become president, oh, do they [the New York Times and The Washington Post] have problems. They’re going to have such problems. And one of the things I’m going to do — and this is only going to make it tougher for me, and I’ve never said this before — but one of the things I’m gonna do if I win — and I hope I do, and we’re certainly leading — is I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money." 
• "He referred to my hands. If they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee." 
• "The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment. There has to be some form.”  (Referring to women who may have an illegal abortion)
• "Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are little short guys that wear yarmulkes every day." 
• "Laziness is a trait in blacks." 
• "A well-educated black has a tremendous advantage over a well-educated white in terms of the job market. I think sometimes a black may think they don’t have an advantage or this and that… if I were starting off today, I would love to be a well-educated black." 
• "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”
• “ 26,000 unreported sexual assults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?” 
• “It must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees.” 
• Praised North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un
• “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose voters”
• Repeatedly claims to have donated millions of dollars to charity, but no one can find evidence of the donations
• “Who the f knows? I mean, really, who knows how much the Japs will pay for Manhattan property these days?” 
• You have to treat women like shit
• “When a man leaves a woman, especially when it was perceived that he has left for a piece of ass—a good one!— there are 50 percent of the population who will love the woman who was left.” 
• “I will build a great wall — and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me —and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.” 
• “Jeb Bush has to like the Mexican illegals because of his wife.” 
• “Maybe [the protester] should have been roughed up. It was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.” 
• “If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me. But a plenty of people have written that. She was extremely quiet, and it looked like she had nothing to say. A lot of people have said that.” (Referring to the Kahn family)
• “Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. And by the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.” 
• “No, I’m not into anal.” 
• “Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest -and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure, it’s not your fault”