PRESIDENT Donald Trump has revelled in his Republican Party’s victories in the US Senate and mocked fellow Republicans who lost after not seeking his support.
Speaking in a 90-minute White House news conference after his party lost control of the House of Representatives in the US midterm elections, Trump also suggested he may be able to govern more effectively after losing a chamber of the Congress.
READ MORE: Donald Trump suffers midterm setback but leaves America more divided than ever
Trump faces the prospect, starting early next year, of endless investigations after Democrats formally took control of the House.
But he celebrated Republican success in retaining the Senate and seemed to blame losing candidates from his own party for distancing themselves from him.
Trump told reporters: “I thought it was very close to complete victory.”
Though boasting that Republicans appear likely to hold the highest number of Senate seats in 100 years, Trump was quick to distance himself from his party’s failure to maintain control of the House.
In a remarkable scene, he called out defeated Republicans by name.
He said: “Mia Love gave me no love and she lost.
“Candidates who embraced our message of lower taxes, low regulation, low crime, strong borders and great judges excelled last night.”
Trump had encouraged voters to view the midterms as a referendum on his leadership.
Nearly 40% of voters cast their ballots to express opposition to the president, according to AP VoteCast, the national survey of the electorate, while one in four said they voted to express support for Trump.
Wednesday also saw the president fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions, picutred above, as the country’s chief law enforcement officer. Sessions announced his resignation in a letter to Trump and said it came at “your request”.
The decision to leave his post comes after Sessions endured more than a year of blistering and personal attacks over his recusal from the investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump announced the resignation in a tweet and tweeted separately that he was naming Sessions’ chief of staff Matthew Whitaker, a former US attorney from Iowa, as acting attorney general.
The president has suggested there could be room for bipartisanship, declaring that Democrats – who made opposing him a centrepiece to their campaign – would, in fact, be eager to work with him on issues like infrastructure.
But he also declared that Republicans would retaliate if Democrats use their control of the House to issue subpoenas to seek his tax returns and investigate his business dealings, his cabinet’s conduct and his campaign’s ties to Russia.
“They can play that game, but we can play it better. Because we have a thing called the United States Senate,” Trump said.
“If that happens, then we’re going to do the same thing and government would come to a halt and we’re going to blame them.”
Trump’s temper flared during a heated exchange with CNN reporter Jim Acosta. Acosta had first asked about the “migrant caravan”, but when attempting a second question on the Russia investigation Trump labelled him a “rude, terrible person”, and said those reporting fake news were “the enemy of the people”.
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