US mid-term elections: Trump fires A-G Jeff Sessions after repelling Democrats’ blue wave
Donald Trump’s first move after repelling a Democratic ‘blue wave’ in the mid-terms is to fire Attorney-General Jeff Sessions.
The US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has resigned at the request of Donald Trump only a day after the mid-term elections.
The resignation follows almost a year of criticism and at times ridicule of Mr Sessions by the president who was angered that he recused himself from the Russia investigation.
Mr Trump believes that decision allowed deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to appoint special counsel Robert Mueller launching an investigation which has hung over the White House and the president for more than a year.
We are pleased to announce that Matthew G. Whitaker, Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice, will become our new Acting Attorney General of the United States. He will serve our Country well....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018
Even though Mr Sessions was expected to leave the administration after the mid-term elections, Mr Trump’s decision to sack him only hours after the election results were known have stunned Washington
The President has appointed Mr Sessions’s chief-of-staff Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general. But Mr. Sessions’ departure creates instant uncertainty not only at the Justice Department but also at special counsel Robert Mueller’s office. Mr. Sessions had recused himself from that investigation because of his role in the Trump campaign, but a new attorney general could oversee the probe.
Politicians of both parties have warned Mr. Trump against naming a new attorney general to weaken Mr. Mueller, but some Republicans more recently have signaled a willingness to consider replacements.
The abrupt move came after Mr Trump stymied Democrat hopes of a sweeping victory in the US mid-term elections, increasing the Republican majority in the Senate but losing control of the House of Representatives.
Democrat Nancy Pelosi vowed to use the numbers in the house to apply “checks and balances to the Trump administration” but hype about a “blue wave” of Democrat support fell short.
The Republicans won the Senate with an increased majority after Democrats lost key races in North Dakota, Indiana, Tennessee and Texas.
The house losses for Mr Trump were smaller than those recorded by Democrat president Bill Clinton in the 1994 mid-terms and Barack Obama in 2010.
Mr Trump took to Twitter to declare a “tremendous success”.
The mid-termresults mirrored the yawning political divide in the US: suburban women delivered a strong protest vote against the President, while white men in rural and regional America overwhelmingly backed him.
AP VoteCast said women voted Democrat by 56 per cent to 38 per cent; the margin was even higher for women with college degrees, who voted Democrat 62 per cent to 33 per cent. Men voted Republican by a narrow margin of 48 per cent to 46 per cent.
With counting still under way, the Republicans look set to increase their 51-49 majority in the Senate to as much as 56-43.
The Democrats won back control of the house for the first time since they lost it in 2010, with ongoing counting suggesting they could win as many as 35 seats, more than the 23 needed to gain a majority.
The Democrats are expected to launch a range of investigations into the personal and business life of the President.
These include a possible extension of the Russia investigation and probes into Mr Trump’s business affairs, his personal finances and, possibly, his tax returns.
They could also potentially launch impeachment proceedings against Mr Trump, although such a move would be rejected by the Republican-controlled Senate, allowing the President to remain in office.
Ms Pelosi, who is expected to become the new house majority leader, said: “Tomorrow will be a new day in America. (We) have taken back the house for the American people.”
The loss of the house will reshape the Trump presidency, forcing him to take a more bipartisan approach to push through his agenda, something he has been unwilling to do in his first two years as President.
Although Ms Pelosi called for bipartisanship in the wake of the house victory, the Democrats are likely to block much of Mr Trump’s legislative agenda over the next two years, including his plans for further tax cuts, funding for the border wall and the repeal of Mr Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
“Today is about restoring the constitution’s checks and balances to the Trump administration … the people’s interest will prevail, not the dark special interest,” she said.
“We will have accountability and we will strive for bipartisanship … we have all had enough of division … unity, unity for our country,” she said.
Mr Trump called Ms Pelosi to congratulate her on the Democrat victory and reportedly acknowledged her call for bipartisanship.
He then retweeted the praise of writer Ben Stein, who said: “There’s only been five times in the last 105 years that an incumbent president has won seats in the Senate in the off-year election. Mr Trump has magic about him. This guy has magic coming out of his ears.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: “It’s a huge moment and victory for the President.”
Lindsay Graham, the South Carolina senator close to the President, said the strengthened Republican control of the Senate would mean “more conservative judges will keep moving forward” to fill court vacancies.
He added: “If they (the Democrats) want to impeach President Trump I want to give them some advice: we have been there, done that with President Clinton. It didn’t work out. It will blow up in their faces.”
The results were largely consistent with the traditional backlash in the mid-terms against the party of a sitting president, leading to an average loss of 30 seats in the house in the post-war era.
Mr Trump’s losses in the house are significantly less than those suffered by Bill Clinton, who lost 54 seats in 1994, and Barack Obama who lost 63 seats in 2010. Unlike with those presidents, Mr Trump’s Republicans have retained control of the Senate.
Anecdotal evidence suggested the voter turnout yesterday was far higher than in previous midterm elections.
Two-thirds of voters said Mr Trump was a factor in their vote. Of these, 26 per cent said they cast their vote to express support for the President and 38 per cent said their vote was to oppose him.
Some of the rise in voting numbers was attributed to celebrity endorsements such as that of singer Taylor Swift, whose backing for the Democrat candidate in the Tennessee Senate race coincided with a surge in voter registrations.
Mr Trump admitted the poll would be seen largely as a referendum on himself and conceded he should try to take a “softer tone” sometimes. His mid-term campaign focused heavily on the dangers of illegal immigration as well as the strength of the US economy.
The President crisscrossed the country holding rallies in which he warned of an “invasion” of the US by a migrant caravan of 7000 people heading through Mexico towards the US border.
He ordered up to 15,000 US troops to the border and advocated changes to asylum laws.
Exit polls yesterday found that 47 per cent of voters described Mr Trump’s immigration policies as too tough while 32 per cent said they were not tough enough and 16 per cent said they were about right.
The Democrats campaigned on healthcare, immigration and on the President’s style of leadership.
Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia
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