Joe Scarborough said that Lindsey Graham's remarks about Jeff Sessions this morning "gave Donald Trump a green light to fire Jeff Sessions."

Graham told the hosts of the Today show that Sessions is "not the only man in the country that can be attorney general. He's a fine man. I'm not asking for him to be fired, but the relationship is not working."

"We have to replace him with somebody who is highly-qualified and will commit to the Senate to allow Mueller to do his job. Nobody is going to take Jeff's place that doesn't commit to the Senate and the country as a whole that Mueller will be allowed to finish his job without political interference."

"But, David Ignatius, the only thing Donald Trump has against Jeff Sessions is he did the right thing and he recused himself," Scarborough commented.

"With anybody that knows anything about jurisprudence and legal ethics would have done the same exact thing. That's all he has against Sessions. So Lindsay is saying he should be fired?"

"You know, it was a strange statement from Senator Graham. He enjoys his golf-buddy friendship with the president, and this may be another sign of it," Ignatius said.

"I thought the most interesting part of that, Graham has said before that he thought that it might be time for Sessions to retire after the elections when the new Congress is seated. I think in specifying that no new attorney general would be confirmed without a promise to keep the Mueller investigation going. Graham has actually moved a little further toward protection of the investigation than I had heard before. It is my understanding that Senator Orin Hatch, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, has said flatly that no successor to Sessions will be confirmed without a promise like that. So that may be a little bit of hidden news here."

Let's cut to the chase. The man-baby in the Oval Office is feeling beleaguered, and has to lash out at somebody -- preferably Jeff Sessions. Pair this with the rumors this week that Lindsey Graham will be the next attorney general, and all becomes clear.

I will say, though, that I think Graham's move is ultimately about protecting the Mueller investigation. Graham would essentially be offering himself up as a distraction, knowing full well that Trump can't fire two AGs in a row without Mueller holding him accountable.

We'll see if I'm right.