The White House has said that a decision would come "soon" on the fate of embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has come under withering and very public criticism from President Donald Trump over the past week.
"We'll come to a resolution soon," new White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci told reporters when asked about the mounting tensions between the Republican president and his one-time ally.
Mr Sessions' allies say President Trump is carrying out a deliberate public campaign to pressure him to quit, rather than fire him outright, but the AG has no intention of resigning.
Mr Trump is angry that Mr Sessions recused himself from the federal investigation into possible collusion between Mr Trump's election campaign team and Russia.
Mr Sessions' recusal means he has no oversight of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose wide-ranging investigation into Russian interference in the election has focused on Trump aides and his son-in-law Jared Kushner and cast a deep shadow over Mr Trump's presidency.
Two people close to Mr Sessions said the attorney general, who was the first Republican senator to back Mr Trump's presidential campaign, has been deeply offended by the public berating from his boss, but his resolve to stay is strong.
The public attacks by a president on a member of his own Cabinet and onetime close political ally have stunned many in Washington.
On Monday, Mr Trump described his Attorney General as "beleaguered".
So why aren't the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2017
Mr Trump's public criticism of Mr Sessions began in earnest in an interview with the New York Times last week in which he said that he would not have hired him had he known he would recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
He followed that with the critical tweets, and close aides, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders and newly installed White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci have gone on television to reinforce Mr Trump's frustration with Mr Sessions.
Adding to the pressure were multiple reports yesterday that Mr Trump was considering Republican Senator Ted Cruz and former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani as replacements.
Mr Cruz called the reports false and Mr Giuliani declined to comment.
Firing Mr Sessions would be an enormously risky move for Mr Trump and would likely be seen by his critics as a move to stop Mr Mueller's investigation into the president's aides.
Earlier today, a leading Republican senator said President Trump's call for Mr Sessions to investigate former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton is "highly inappropriate" and threatens to erode the separation between law and politics, a leading Republican senator said.
"Prosecutorial decisions should be based on applying facts to the law without hint of political motivation.
"To do otherwise is to run away from the long-standing American tradition of separating the law from politics," Senator Lindsey Graham said in a series of posts on Twitter.
"President Trump's tweet today suggesting Attorney General Sessions pursue prosecution of a former political rival is highly inappropriate," said Senator Graham, who defended Mr Sessions from criticism by the president.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017
Problem is that the acting head of the FBI & the person in charge of the Hillary investigation, Andrew McCabe, got $700,000 from H for wife!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017
Manafort summoned by US Senate panel
Meanwhile, A US Senate panel has issued a subpoena to force Paul Manafort, a former campaign manager to President Trump, to appear at a hearing tomorrow as part of its probe into Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election.
The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Charles Grassley, and the top Democrat on the panel, Dianne Feinstein, said the subpoena was issued late on Monday after Mr Manafort did not agree to an interview.
"While we were willing to accommodate Mr Manafort's request to cooperate with the committee's investigation without appearing at Wednesday's hearing, we were unable to reach an agreement for a voluntary transcribed interview with the Judiciary Committee," they said in a statement.
They said Mr Manafort was willing to provide only a single transcribed interview to Congress, which would be available to the Judiciary Committee as well as other panels.
"As with other witnesses, we may be willing to excuse him from Wednesday's hearing if he would be willing to agree to production of documents and a transcribed interview," they said.
The panel leaders also said any Mr Manafort interview would not constitute a waiver of his rights and the committee could require that he testify in the future.
A spokesman for Mr Manafort said he had met with Senate Intelligence Committee staff today "by previous agreement".
Jason Maloni said Mr Manaford "answered their questions fully".
Mr Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, has released emails that showed he welcomed the prospect of receiving damaging information at the meeting Mrs Clinton.
The Senate panel is one of several congressional committees investigating alleged Russian efforts to tilt the election in the Republican candidate's favour and possible collusion by Mr Trump's campaign.
Moscow has denied such efforts.
Jared Kushner did very well yesterday in proving he did not collude with the Russians. Witch Hunt. Next up, 11 year old Barron Trump!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017
President Trump blasted the investigation into alleged Russian meddling and raised questions, without offering evidence, about Ukrainian support for Mrs Clinton.
Mr Trump did not elaborate or offer evidence about any role Ukraine may have played in the 2016 election.
Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign - "quietly working to boost Clinton." So where is the investigation A.G. @seanhannity
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017
The Ukrainian Embassy in Washington denied Kiev had tried to influence the US election.
"We stand by our words that the government of Ukraine didn't help any candidate in (the) election. Ukraine is proud of bipartisan support in the US," the embassy posted on Twitter.
Ukraine’s permanent representative to the Council of Europe, Dmytro Kuleba, said on Twitter: "Trump writes that we interfered in the elections in the USA, while Putin says that we threaten Russia. There was a time when we were peaceful buckwheat sowers who kept themselves to themselves."
