Trump Lashes Out at Sessions Again: ‘I Don’t Have an Attorney General’
“We’ll see how it goes with Jeff. I’m very disappointed in Jeff. Very disappointed.”
President Donald Trump spoke to The Hill today and once against attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions. From The Hill:
“I don’t have an attorney general. It’s very sad,” Trump told Hill.TV in an extensive and freewheeling interview Tuesday from the Oval Office.
The president has long excoriated Sessions for his March 2017 decision to recuse himself from the Russia collusion investigation. But on Tuesday he suggested he is frustrated by Sessions’s performance on far more than that.
“I’m not happy at the border, I’m not happy with numerous things, not just this,” he said.
Sessions recused himself from the Trump-Russia probe. He and Trump had a close relationship on the campaign trail and he did not tell the Senate about his meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak:
The FBI in an early 2017 email to a Sessions aide, made public last December, concluded that Sessions did not need to reveal contacts with foreign government officials that were made in the course of his work as a senator.
“I recused myself not because of any asserted wrongdoing on my part during the campaign,” Sessions told the Senate Intelligence Committee last April. “But because a Department of Justice regulation, 28 CFR 45.2, required it.”
That close relationship may have led to a blind spot with Trump:
Trump suggested he had a personal blind spot when it came to nominating Sessions as the nation’s top law enforcement officer.
“I’m so sad over Jeff Sessions because he came to me. He was the first senator that endorsed me. And he wanted to be attorney general, and I didn’t see it,” he said.
“And then he went through the nominating process and he did very poorly. I mean, he was mixed up and confused, and people that worked with him for, you know, a long time in the Senate were not nice to him, but he was giving very confusing answers. Answers that should have been easily answered. And that was a rough time for him.”
Trump believes the nomination process “may have impacted his performance as attorney general.” Trump continued:
“He gets in and probably because of the experience that he had going through the nominating when somebody asked him the first question about Hillary Clinton or something he said ‘I recuse myself, I recuse myself,’” Trump said.
“And now it turned out he didn’t have to recuse himself. Actually, the FBI reported shortly thereafter any reason for him to recuse himself. And it’s very sad what happened.”
However, Trump didn’t commit to the notion of firing Sessions:
“We’ll see what happens. A lot of people have asked me to do that. And I guess I study history, and I say I just want to leave things alone, but it was very unfair what he did,” he said, referring to the recusal decision.
“And my worst enemies, I mean, people that, you know, are on the other side of me in a lot of ways, including politically, have said that was a very unfair thing he did.”
He concluded: “We’ll see how it goes with Jeff. I’m very disappointed in Jeff. Very disappointed.”
You all know I cannot stand Sessions, but now I’m mad at Trump because he’s going to make me defend Sessions. There are rules and processes. Sessions cannot just snap his fingers and make something happen. Also, as Sessions pointed out, there is a rule that he had to follow when it came to recusing himself from the investigation.
After Trump attacked Sessions in August, the attorney general responded:
“I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in, which is why we have had unprecedented success at effectuating the President’s agenda—one that protects the safety and security rights of the American people, reduces violent crime, enforces our immigration laws, promotes economic growth, and advances religious liberty.”
He went on to say, “While I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
If President Trump fires Sessions and Rosenstein takes his place, the only change will be that Sessions wakes up and goes home to sleep.
Trump can put in a temporary replacement
Obama called them “czars”
and believe me, Rosenstein will soon follow Sessions when his ass eventually gets canned and replaced
Your comment is very confused.
0bama didn’t “call” anyone czars. He had czars just like every president does. Czars are advisors whom the president puts in charge of a specific area of policy.
And czars cannot be appointed as temporary replacements for positions that require senate confirmation.
Judge Jeanine Pirro indicate the position could be filled immediately by using a law called the Vacancies Act. There are smart lawyers here, maybe they know of this process.
The Vacancies Reform Act. It says if a position that requires senate confirmation falls vacant the president can move someone else in for up to 150 days, provided that that person has already been confirmed by the senate for some other position.
I wish the two of them would have a private dinner, with no one else present while they discuss the future. Agree that they disagree. And, out of necessity, call a truce until after the midterms, less than 7 weeks away. Afterward, Sessions resigns and Trump gives him a fine send off.
Sometimes, I get the impression that Trumps gets bored and, after having reviewed his To-Do List for the umpteenth time, he decides he needs to move things along. And, without a “governor” on his speech, he doesn’t do himself, as well as others, justice.
I think the voters of the R| party is past the point of waiting for Sessions to wake up
the only reason Sessions is acting the way he is and has for the past 2 years can only be for 1 of 2 reasons
1 – he’s the dumbest muther fracker on the planet Earth who really thinks his inaction is above complaint
2 – he is a rat and is intentionally not doing anything as a stalling tactic to protect the swamp
in either case – his ass should have been canned a year ago
ideally the moment he recused himself
Sessions should never hold another public office ever ever again because his short tenure as the AG was a complete embarrassment to his own character
this MF folded almost immediately with the slightest of touches from the left
I began to read your post, but stopped. Maybe, you had some good points. I duuno.
What I do know is that as a young man I developed a foul and it became such a habit that more than once it got me it trouble. Quitting ways, in some ways, worse than kicking the smoking habit.
These days, I’m tired. Tired of the swearing, tired of the name-calling, tired of not being able to ask a simple question without being labelled this or that, and tired of all the vitriol. All this is, of course, my problem. I’m relating it to you, as well as others who might read this, that you can reply if you like, but it may to no avail should anything that I’ve mention be included.
Life is to short, and getting all the shorter for me. So, if I can’t engage in discussion without all the attending drama, then I won’t. And, I’m fine with this and, most likely, others are as well.
“I’ll live just as long and die just as happy.”
Sessions is a coward of historic proportions. He’s probably also being extorted – much like that other disgusting coward, boehner.
Truce? The aggressor is Sessions. Justice? Sessions is the one fighting justice.
Here’s an alternative point of view: Trump’s “feud” with Sessions is as real as a WWE feud.
Otherwise known as the “n-dimensional possum” theory.
I’m not buying it.
Early on I was willing to give it plausibility. No longer. Sessions is pathetic.
“And then he went through the
nominatingelection process and he did very poorly. I mean, he was mixed up and confused, and people that worked with him for, you know, alongshort time inthe Senatehis administration were not nice to him, but he was giving very confusing answers. Answers that should have been easily answered. And that was a rough time for him.” Guess who?but he had no path to 270
amazing Sessions hasn’t resigned with how the President (and many on the R side of the aisle) is constantly slamming him ass for the shit job he is doing
it is almost like he is holding onto his position on purpose
Sessions, next to McCain, is probably the biggest p.o.s. with the |R| next to his name
he has single-handedly hamstrung the Trump Administration with legal issues while pursuing nothing (NOTHING) in the Clinton email scandal
heck, we now know John Huber hasn’t even interviewed Bruce Ohr – and this is the guy Sessions brought in investigate all these characters
not a single statement, not a single statement under oath, heck I doubt Huber bothered to even do a smidgen of evidence collecting
literally speaking here – any special prosecutor brought in to finally investigate the various crimes and cover-ups done by the previous administration as it pertains to their Russia Collusion angle, is going to have to start from ground zero and build a case because Judicial Watch has done 300x the work these two dimwits (Sessions and Huber) in exposing it
it is quite sad really and quite infuriating
Sessions should be mocked and ridiculed right out of the GOP, Senate, DC, and Alabama
he should forever be remembered as gutless and sackless turncoat
The actions of Sessions are inexcusable. Every aspect of the situation points to betrayal, obstruction and oath violation. There is no gray area at all.
“Trump” doesn’t have an attorney general? How about WE don’t have an attorney general.
Sessions is either the dumbest a-hole this side of odumbo, or he’s being extorted (can you say “boehner”), or he’s in on the Swamp/GOPe plot (most likely.)
In any event, he needs to be shown the door – and fast. America has literally become a land of lawlessness akin to the worst banana republic: nothing klinton, odumbo, kerry etc. can do will be met with a response from the justice department crippled by the most corrupt actors every to occupy its highest offices.
Rosenstein and Sessions make Holder and Lynch look honest.
We need a night of long knives: purge Justice, State, etc.
How can he not be smart and free of corruption? He was among the first, if not the first, Senator to endorse Trump.
There is some irony there. Why don’t you look up ‘irony’ in the dictionary.
but nothing you said here doesn’t excuse Sessions’s behavior the past 2 years
this moron literally removed himself out of the picture when it comes to his actual job as the head of the DOJ
we literally hear nothing of what Sessions is actually doing with his department
the media is like crickets around him, no leaks, literally nothing
at best what Sessions did was retreat to the border to score brownie points by saying he prosecuted illegals crossing the border when he should have had them deported the moment they arrived
he wasted time and resources doing all the wrong shit and nothing to actually address the corruption within his own ranks
heck he has stepped aside to let THEM run his department
it is just a sign of the weakness of Sessions’s character, he’s just gutless
not someone who ever should have held any position of power and I think he won’t ever win any re-election bid in the future due to his cowardice shown these past 2 years
I just don’t see how Sessions could go back to Alabama and explain his inability to do anything as the AG and spin that into enthusiasm for votes
he has literally cucked his own political future
I looked up irony in the dictionary. Thanks for that interesting suggestion. Now I want that minute of my life back.
Sessions endorsed Trump – as insurance for the GOPe: in the preposterous chance he would win, the GOPe would have a rat inside. It worked: sessions took his marching orders from the swamp right on cue.
Now, take out a dictionary and look up ‘naive’
Irony? We are concerned with justice. We do not focus blame on the immediate victim of the betrayal by Sessions (Trump). We do not say it is ironic that a woman chose an abuser for a husband.
It’s funny how much interference, both internal and external, Republicans and conservatives are willing to accept when it comes to Republican administrations and intiitatives. The agenda Trump was elected to effect should be moving along much more than it has. And much of that agenda was at the DOJ.
There are many problems with Sessions, his obsession with a few things and complete lack of care about others being at the top of the list. He was never interested in taking control of the DOJ as a whole and directing it towards Trump’s goals, much less draining the swamp. He seems to care about immigration, drugs, and to a much lesser extent, First Amendment issues. Even on those issues, at least outside of drugs, progress is slow and plodding because his control over the DOJ is so weak, with constant and apparently unplanned for pushbacks via the courts. And on drugs, he’s been a true Drug Warrior, willing to run over civil liberties and chronic pain sufferers to do so. (Don’t get me started on civil forfeiture. The man clearly doesn’t care about civil liberties.)
The DOJ needed a leader, and instead got a Senator.
The rules for people in pain are ridiculous. Doctors with patients on pain meds for years are forced to reduce their dosage and increase their pain to stay within Sessions guidelines.
The DOJ got a corrupt rat – its third, since Odumbo.
That sums it up well.
Donelle Twamp (mean gurl) shows what a moral coward he/she is in spades.
He/she wanted a Holder. He got someone with integrity.
what integrity you speak of?
Sessions recused himself (entirely) with no legal obligation to do so
he wasn’t privy to anything any investigation into Donald Trump would yield other than – he endorsed him for President?
and that is worth a recusal
turns out the reason Sessions says he did recuse himself for – had no real legal basis
that is like the absolute opposite of having integrity
then Sessions goes further and does nothing when it came to starting investigations to actually look at the Clinton email scandal
Sessions has not assisted any Congressional body and has let his own department and that of the FBI stonewall the committees investigating it at every turn
that is not integrity – it’s cowardice, pure & simple
the President had to sign an order to get these documents out because all the heads of these departments are complying with House and Senate demands
Rags – do you think Sessions is trying to move that order along?
Actual lawyers who know what they’re talking about do not agree with you.
There are some things I have strong disagreements with Sessions about (asset forfeiture laws, etc.), including his taste in political candidates, but he’s done well in office. A lot of what he’s done is off the radar, but it’s still there.
We all used to deplore what Barracula was doing to the standing of law and order. Twamp is at least as bad.
“Actual lawyers who know what they’re talking about do not agree with you.”
Well, you’re certainly excluded.
Ain’t it amazing – “Ragspierre hated Sessions after Sessions endorsed Trump, right up until Trump soured on him. “Ragspierre tried to slime Sessions with the old prog racist accusations. Now he’s kissing him.
No argument as to my expertise on recusal.
Everything else is just one set of your typical lies.
I expected Sessions to completely undo Obama’s corruption of DOJ. Instead it seems his tenure has served to perpetuate biases Obama and Holder imposed on DOJ and all of America. I expected Sessions to actually be cleaning out all the swamp critters. As far as I can tell, Sessions is just sitting on his tail collecting fat checks. It seems to me that Sessions has much in common with Holder.
Then his “boss” should have the balls to get rid of him, instead of whining like the mean gurl at the prom.
Selling uranium to Russia and covering it up is your moral imperative, aside from content free messages.
I’m not convinced.
Look, running the DOJ is like the world’s largest juggling exposition, with things flying everywhere between criminal justice and counter-intel and politics. Mozart would have a hard time getting it all to work harmoniously. It needs a manager who won’t knock over the table and endanger the 98% of the functioning criminal prosecutions and intel operations. Sessions has been admittedly pretty good at that. It’s that last 2% that worries people, myself included, but…
Good Cop/Bad Cop
As long as Trump rails against him, Sessions can go to *any* section of the DOJ and say “I don’t want to have to tell you this, but Trump says XYZ” and the recipient of the order will empathize with him, and possibly work *with* him instead of fighting like a rabid weasel. Call me gullible, but it took eight years of radical Obama change to get where we are today, and we’re seeing pretty good results for just 1/4 of that time devoted to changing it back.
Replacing Sessions, even with a new Senate a seat or more (R) leaning, will be a royal pain, and send a number of reforms backsliding. Get the honest appointees in there, root out the political leakers and deep state operatives, and hope that President Pence in 2024 can maintain the progress to an FBI we can trust again. Even a little.
You seem to be rejecting the legitimate chain of command the system is based on.
An honest AG would round up the documents Trump wants released and bring them to Trump, after firing any subordinate who hinders the gathering and production of the documents to Trump.
BINGO
And the demonstrable obstructer, the disloyal, oath violating, corrupt AG will not.
Sessions appears to think his job is protecting the DOJ and FBI from scandals of their own making. He also appears to be committed to the idea that these agencies stand outside the Article II chain of command. He’s catastrophically wrong on both counts. As a result, many of us think there is a two-tier system of justice. We’ve seen states reduce criminal penalties and reduce/erase convictions for illegal aliens so they can avoid deportation, and we’ve watched as the anti-Trump actions taken by upper-echelon staff in the DOJ and FBI go unpunished. Civil society depends on adherence to the law “even when no one is watching.” Such adherence won’t last must longer if the people think that WE will be punished but THEY won’t.
“Lashes”
Someone’s been reading too many lefty media headlines & subconsciously adopted the style guide.
😉
Let’s not pretend that Sessionszzz just failed for the first time, m’kay? There are all sorts of things he could’ve done to support the rule of law in the past two years, and he’s done almost none of them.
The entire GOP base is disappointed in him. He needs to go.
One, the law allows for the Attorney General, from time to time, to update those very “rules and processes” he followed. Two, it is now known that he was not merely an outside adviser to the campaign on foreign policy, he was the titular head of a small group of advisers on foreign policy matters, which I hear included Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, and Gen. Michael Flynn. Being the titular supervisor of men of such extraordinarily high interest to federal law enforcement – if no one else, then Gen. Flynn – a man of Sessions’ experience and intellect must have known full well he would recuse as soon as “campaign” matters arose.
Trump is not a lawyer. Sessions is. Trump is not an expert on recusing as a DoJ official. Sessions either was, or had easy access to that information. Not informing Trump, in advance, of the necessity, and the inevitability, and the overwhelming righteousness of recusing himself, was… not nice, and not very responsible of him. However nice a man he is personally, and however much of a conservative he may be, he served his President poorly on that one, very large, very broad issue.
I wish him well in overcoming that mistake.
Well stated and absolutely correct.
Sessions allowed Rosenstein to appoint a special prosecutor based on a fake dossier. Sessions was still Attorney General and Rosenstein had to run it by him. Sessions allowed people that wanted to destroy Trump and overthrow the election have unlimited power and you people feel sorry for this incompetent piece of garbage?
“lashes out”
Of course he doesn’t Sessions is a RINO and swamp scum,it was a mistake for Trump to name Sessions in the first place but then we all make mistakes.
Neither the country, nor President Trump, has an Attorney General. The Democrat Party and its Leftist backers have an Attorney General who are literally outside the law and the Constitution. Sessions has collaborated in that from day one.
He is part of the enemy.
Although not of the Judeo-Christian persuasion, I find a word from the Book of Daniel to be apt.
TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and
found wanting
oops. Should be “have an Attorney General and a Department of Justice with all its agencies who are literally outside the law and the Constitution.”