President Trump continued to test his relationship with Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday by amplifying conservative allies demanding he “clean house” at the Justice Department and target those involved in the Russia investigation that once threatened his presidency, The Washington Post reports.
The grievances shared by Trump in a flurry of morning tweets included claims of a “seditious conspiracy” against him and attacks on a “criminal gang” at the FBI and the Justice Department. A day after it was revealed that Barr told people close to Trump that he had considered quitting, the president and his attorney general seemed to reach a detente of sorts. Officials inside the Justice Department said they were watching the situation closely, mindful that a new string of tweets or comments could quickly upend the situation, but there were no indications that Barr would leave imminently. The attorney general did not mention the controversy when he spoke during an event Wednesday at FBI headquarters. Meanwhile, Politico reports that Senate Republicans have been mounting an urgent campaign to save Barr’s job — fearful that his dismissal or resignation would deprive Trump of an effective enforcer of his agenda and hand the Senate a vacancy that’s nearly impossible to fill.