Embattled Trump faces White House infighting, Republican revolt

Embattled US President Donald Trump is facing a revolt by his own Republican Party over growing concerns about his ability to govern the country six months after taking office, amid a White House torn apart by vicious infighting.

Among some establishment Republicans, there are signs that patience with Trump is wearing thin.

For months, Trump has kept skeptical Republicans in line with an implicit threat that he would turn his loyal supporters against them. But there are growing signs that those threats from a president with a sub-40 percent approval rating are losing potency.

Trump suffered yet another humiliating blow Friday as a small group of Republican lawmakers in Congress dealt him a stinging legislative defeat by voting against healthcare reform to replace Obamacare.

Senator John McCain, who just last week was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer, unexpectedly pointed his right index finger in a downward motion to register a no vote, ruining the Republican Party's seven-year effort to repeal former President Barack Obama's healthcare law.

GOP lawmakers also joined Democrats in supporting a new sanctions measure against Russia, thwarting Trump's efforts to build better relations with Moscow.

"We're seeing clear evidence that all of these distractions are standing in the way of their ability to achieve legislative accomplishments," said Republican strategist Alice Stewart, a top aide to Senator Ted Cruz's presidential campaign last year.

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In another sign of chaos in the administration, Trump replaced White House chief of staff Reince Priebus on Friday with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, just one week after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer announced his resignation.

Priebus had been in a public feud with Trump's new communications director Anthony Scaramucci.

His national security team, including National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, were also described by sources as frustrated with their treatment by the White House.

Trump’s threat to replace US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also set off a revolt among Republican senators, who have warned the president not to fire their former colleague.

Sessions, a former senator from Alabama and early Trump supporter, has faced a barrage of criticisms by Trump in recent days, which historians say is unprecedented.

Trump is furious at Sessions for recusing himself from a Justice Department probe into alleged ties between Russia and Trump's election campaign.

Trump's administration and his presidential campaign are under investigation by the Justice Department and several Congressional committees over whether they colluded with Moscow to tilt the 2016 presidential election.

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