In one of his first acts, new White House chief of staff John Kelly called Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reassure him that his job was safe.
Kelly called Sessions on Saturday, the day after Kelly's appointment to chief of staff, to emphasize that the White House was supportive of him, and wanted him to continue in his role as attorney general, according to the Associated Press.
Kelly said that President Donald Trump was "miffed" at Sessions, but did not plan to fire him, nor did he want him to resign.
Rumors about Trump's opinion of Sessions swirled after the president told the New York Times that he would not have made Sessions his attorney general had he known that Sessions would recuse himself from the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Trump then took to attacking the attorney general on Twitter, calling him "beleaguered," "very weak," and questioning his failure to investigate Hillary Clinton.
Trump's criticism of Sessions in turn earned sharp rebuke from congressional Republicans, who circled the wagons around their former colleague. Notably, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) made clear that there would be no time to replace Sessions if Trump fired him, signaling his own disapproval.
Sessions, for his part, publicly doubled down, saying that he "made the right decision" to recuse himself. He also called the president's comments "kind of hurtful."
Two weeks ago, the White House publicly stood behind Sessions, telling the press that Trump has "full confidence" in his attorney general. And on Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Trump has "100 percent confidence in all members of his Cabinet."
Kelly, the former secretary of homeland security, replaced Reince Priebus as chief of staff. His early days in the role have been characterized by some changes in the White House, most notably the removal of Anthony Scaramucci as White House communications director just 10 days into Scaramucci's time in that role.
Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, was officially sworn in as chief of staff on Monday.