There would be "widespread opposition" in the Senate should President Donald Trump abruptly decide to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Sen. Chris Coons said Wednesday.
"Attorneys general pledge their loyalty to the United States constitution, not to an individual president, and President Trump doesn't seem to understand that," the Delaware Democrat told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
"His repeated harassment of Jeff Sessions, based on his recusal, suggests he just doesn't understand that."
There would be "strong and bipartisan resistance" should Trump fire Sessions, Coons continued, while warning that Trump would likely have "great difficulty" in getting a replacement confirmed in the Senate.
"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," said Coons.
Democrats also will try to block any appointment made during the upcoming congressional recess, when Trump would be able to appoint someone without a confirmation or a vote by the Senate, said Coons.
"During the Obama administration, Republicans then in the minority in the Senate refused to recess, so every three days we would have what's called a pro forma session," said Coons.
"I think that will block [him], so there is a confirmation hearing, at which I would expect Republicans and Democrats would raise tough questions about this ongoing Russia investigation and about whether the next attorney general would agree to fire Bob Mueller."
He continued that he really thinks, with Trump's talk on Sessions, that the president wants to put an attorney general in place who will fire Mueller.
Show host Joe Scarborough pointed out that Sessions got 97 percent of the vote in his home state of Alabama when he was voted back into office in 2014, and that he does not need Trump, even though the president told The Wall Street Journal that Sessions backed him because he liked his crowd sizes.
"This is a man, if you look at his last two elections, that is far more popular by a wide margin in the state of Alabama than is Donald Trump, and again, just doesn't need him," said Scarborough.
Coons pointed out that Sessions also has a national constituency through conservative outlets, and is well respected by both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate.
Sessions, said Coons, "really stuck his neck out for President Trump, really campaigned hard for him, and gave him credibility in the conservative movement."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.