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President Donald Trump continued his criticism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions this week. Sessions, however, refuses to step down despite the president’s lack of support.

Sessions’ Betrayal?

Jeff Sessions was the first senator that endorsed Trump for president. After the election, Trump appointed him as attorney general. Their alliance ended shortly after the election, however. When the Justice Department began investigating possible Russian involvement, Sessions recused himself. He said that because he was part of Trump’s campaign, it would be inappropriate for him to lead the investigation. That’s when he appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller to lead the case.

Trump has said over the past year that Sessions should step in and end the “Russian Probe.” He says that it only fuels his enemies and detracts from his job as president. Because he has not ended the investigation, Trump says that Sessions “never took control of the Justice Department.” He asked in a Fox and Friends interview Wednesday, “What kind of man is this?”

“You know the only reason I gave him the job? Because I felt loyalty, he was an original supporter,” Trump said of Sessions, a former Alabama Republican senator.

Trump’s new outpouring of frustration comes after a federal court found Paul Manafort guilty of financial crimes, and Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to the same. Manafort was his campaign manager and Cohen his personal lawyer.

Trump said that it should have been illegal for Cohen to “flip” on him. According to him, he feels the same sense of betrayal coming from Sessions.

Trump tweeted on Friday that Sessions needs to “look into all of the corruption on the “other side.” He later goaded Sessions, writing, “Come on Jeff, you can do it, the country is waiting!”

Sessions’ Response

On Thursday, Sessions said that neither he nor the Justice Department would be “improperly influenced by political considerations.”

Sessions also defended himself and the department.

“I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in, which is why we have had unprecedented success at effectuating the president’s agenda,” he said. "I demand the highest standards, and where they are not met, I take action.”

Despite the conflict with the president, Sessions told supporters that he would not step down.

Appointing a New Attorney General?

The president does have the power to fire Sessions and appoint a new attorney general. However, Republican congressmen have advised him not to do so before the midterms. They said that it would be damaging to the party as a whole.