widely viewed as the first step toward firing the special counsel robert mueller and the trump/russia investigation. that would cause a huge firestorm that republicans certainly don t want that between now and november when they are up for reelection. but whether firing sessions would actually be the first step in getting rid of the special counsel is not known or whether the president is just so irritated at jeff sessions every single day that he wants to get rid of him. molly: i want to talk just about the attorney general himself. this tremendous pressure and yet he continues moving forward to the extent that gets some praise from fellow republicans, other lawmakers on the hill that he is succeeding to a certain extent and enhancing the president s overall agenda. how does he keep going head down despite these ongoing attacks from the president? i don t know. he must be doing yoga or meditating or something. he seems to have insulated
is the message there that you would have a senator, such as a lindsey graham say something like that? does this help to empower the president? absolutely. it is the same message that most of the senate republicans have been sending the president throughout the presidency on all issue issues. they condemn him on the one hand for certain statements or threats, but then they kind of waiver and basically, they don t do much to show that they would stand firm if the president did something like trying to remove attorney general sessions. so i think that when you have someone like senator graham say that, it is going to get into his head and undercut the republican fears about the political consequences of firing sessions. ri, if you are sessions, what do you do with all of the swirling around you? well, you know, it is weird to defend sessions, because he has done things that are questionable. and as the papadopoulos statement showed real serious questi
that they re going to show up for the polls and vote against whoever is next to their name. it s fascinating too because just before the cohen plea deal and before manafort s conviction, our own nbc poll had trump s approval rating climb to 42%. the highest it s been in nbc polling since he became president and now, again, there s the possibility here we ll see if it s replicated in other polls but the possibility it has gone south since then. on this question, i ll send it to you. we raised this in the opening there of jeff sessions and his fate. it looks like another rocky week in that relationship. the president now indicating that sessions will stay on the job through november at least. no guarantee beyond that. a lot of expectation that will be it but in terms of how that issue of sessions status intersects with the mueller investigation. is that why the president backed off this week, the legal folks around here firing sessions right now with the mueller
against someone with a r after their name. our nbc poll had trump s approval climbing to 46%, the highest since he became president in nbc s polling, and now the possibility that it has gone south since then. on this question, yamiche alcindor, of jeff sessions and his fate, it looks like another rocky week in that relationship. the president now indicating that sessions will stay on the job through november at least, no guarantee beyond that. a lot of expectation that that will be it. in terms of how sessions status intersects with the mueller investigation, is that why he s backed off, the idea of the legal people around him that firing sessions right now with the mueller investigation still active would cause a particular problem? likely there are lawyers in the white house and his personal lawyers saying, the last thing
intersects with the mueller investigation, is that why he s backed off, the idea of the legal people around him that firing sessions right now with the mueller investigation still active would cause a particular problem? likely there are lawyers in the white house and his personal lawyers saying, the last thing you want to do in the middle of being investigated for obstruction of justice is to then fire the attorney general. also if you fire the attorney general and rod rosenstein gets into the office, that s not really solving your problem. the other thing is that the president has to start lobbying senators, as the reports have shown, because jeff sessions has a lot of friends in the senate who have said they don t want to confirm somebody if jeff sessions is fired. now, you have mitch mcconnell just this week saying he still has confidence in jeff sessions. mitch mcconnell is way more important, an important factor in whether or not jeff sessions replacement could be confirmed, t