It’s been a rough few days for Donald Trump, and included among the recent presidential drama was reportedly an Oval Office meltdown over Jeff Sessions. Specifically, Trump is said to have been furious that the attorney general abruptly, unceremoniously, and publicly opted to recuse himself from any current and future investigations of Trump’s Russia ties.
Trump Having Meltdown Claiming Staff Allowed Sessions-Russia Scandal to Steal His Thunder https://t.co/DB6rj49CWY #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/sBK5IOWcTc
— CitizenSlant (@CitizenSlant) March 5, 2017
To be fair, Jeff Sessions made his decision to recuse just after Donald Trump went out on a limb for his AG and defended him on Twitter.
Jeff Sessions is an honest man. He did not say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017
The first meeting Jeff Sessions had with the Russian Amb was set up by the Obama Administration under education program for 100 Ambs……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
On Thursday, amid growing political pressure from both sides of the aisle, Jeff Sessions announced his decision to recuse himself from any and all investigations into the growing Trump/Russia scandal. The move came after it was revealed that he had met with a Russian ambassador during the Trump campaign and may have made misleading statements during his Senate hearings.
On Friday, reports ABC News, the White House saw a Donald Trump meltdown directed at some of his senior staff. According to inside sources, Trump allegedly went “ballistic” at his people, just before he headed to yet another weekend spent vacationing at his self-appointed “winter White House,” the Trump Mar-A-Lago property in Florida.
According to senior White House sources, Donald Trump was infuriated at what he called Sessions’ “unnecessary” decision to recuse himself from a hypothetical Russia probe. Reportedly, Trump believes that the Sessions decision will do little more than fan the flames of those opposed to Donald Trump. It is also being reported that the Friday Donald Trump meltdown was spurred by the timing of Sessions’ announcement.
Attorney General Sessions made the controversial announcement that he’d decided to recuse himself while Trump was headed back to D.C. from Virginia, where the president had given a rallying, agenda-related speech. Sources close to Donald Trump are claiming that the president believes that Sessions “stole his thunder” with his unexpected Thursday announcement.
Nice to see the GOP’s reaction to Trump having a meltdown over his Russian connections is: JUST HURRY UP AND TAKE POOR PEOPLE’S INSURANCE!
— L O L G O P (@LOLGOP) March 4, 2017
That was thunder Trumpy. Try Gas-X. @CitizenSlant
— Rob Goldstein – #DemCast (@Robrt_M_Goldste) March 5, 2017
Can you be President when you don’t know the basics about the job- legal, managerial, or otherwise?
— Evelyn (@BAMstudioCo) March 4, 2017
Indeed, during his Virginia speech aboard the USS Gerald Ford , Donald Trump had publicly proclaimed “total confidence” in the attorney general, adding that he felt there was “no reasons” for Sessions to recuse himself from the Russia situation.
“We should have had a good week. We should have had a good weekend. But once again, back to Russia.”
Some of the alleged Donald Trump meltdown was reportedly photographed by press pool photographers through the Oval Office windows. Of course, the photogs only managed to capture heated gestures, no audio.
Trump had a meltdown on Friday, and then went golfing, where he schmoozed some rich sycophants. https://t.co/wvz64RvIEf
— Joshua Holland (@JoshuaHol) March 5, 2017
It has also been reported that Trump staffers Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon abruptly cancelled their plans to head to the “winter White House” with Trump and his family after the exchange.
The Friday Donald Trump meltdown appeared to continue well after the president finished allegedly berating his senior staff in the Oval Office. After Trump hopped his flight south to Palm Beach, he took to Twitter to begin hurling accusations against former President Obama. In his Saturday Twitter meltdown, Trump accused Obama of ordering the wiretapping of Trump Tower during the election.
Is it legal for a sitting President to be “wire tapping” a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
As CBS News reports, an Obama spokesperson responded to Trump’s Twitter meltdown allegations, unequivocally denying that the former president wiretapped or ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower.
“A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”
Trump Has Paranoid Freak Out During Sunday Morning Twitter Meltdown https://t.co/Ag06NQCt7I pic.twitter.com/aaOeK6PV5j
— Bipartisan Report (@Bipartisanism) March 5, 2017
It is worth noting that the Trump allegations of wiretapping came at the end of a week where Trump’s alleged Russia ties (and those of his aides) have been front and center in the media. In the past, Trump has been accused of using outlandish Twitter statements to direct the media’s collective attention away from scandals. It is unknown if that may have been what was intended with Saturday’s unbelievable series of wiretapping-related tweets.
Because it is a weekend, and Donald Trump is still vacationing (the forth Florida trip in five weekends), neither his Friday meltdown, nor Saturday accusations have been fully addressed; that could change on Monday when lawmakers head back to work in D.C.
[Featured Image by Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Images]