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Donald Trump at the White House South Lawn in November 2017.
- Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump on Thursday, saying that the Justice Department would "not be improperly influenced by political considerations."
- Sessions' statement was in response to Trump's accusation that Sessions did not take "control" of the Justice Department.
- Trump appeared to mock Sessions' statement this week by telling him to "look into all of the corruption" of his critics and those investigating him.
Donald Trump has returned fire in a dispute with his Attorney General Jeff Sessions, calling on him to "look into all of the corruption" of his critics and those investigating him, including Hillary Clinton, James Comey, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Session issued a rare rebuke of the president on Thursday after Trump accused Sessions of not taking "control" of the Justice Department in a Fox News interview earlier this week, to which Trump responded in a pair of tweets.
Trump also criticized Sessions for recusing himself from Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia.
Sessions said in his Thursday statement: "While I am attorney general, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations."
Trump responded to Sessions' statement in two tweets on Friday morning, which called on him to investigate the "corruption" allegedly carried about by Clinton, Comey, Mueller's team, and other people who had criticized or opposed him in the past.
Trump said:
"'Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.' Jeff, this is GREAT, what everyone wants, so look into all of the corruption on the 'other side' including deleted Emails, Comey lies & leaks, Mueller conflicts, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr...... ....FISA abuse, Christopher Steele & his phony and corrupt Dossier, the Clinton Foundation, illegal surveillance of Trump Campaign, Russian collusion by Dems - and so much more. Open up the papers & documents without redaction? Come on Jeff, you can do it, the country is waiting!"
Trump told Fox News this week: "I put in an attorney general that never took control of the Justice Department. It's sort of an incredible thing."
Sessions said in response: "I demand the highest standards, and where they are not met, I take action. However, no nation has a more talented, more dedicated group of law-enforcement investigators and prosecutors than the United States."
Trump had also told Fox News: "Jeff Sessions recused himself, which he shouldn't have done, or he should have told me. He took my job, and then he said, 'I'm going to recuse myself.' I said, 'What kind of man is this?'"
The president also said that "the only reason I gave him the job is because I felt loyalty."