Attorney General Jeff Sessions Resigns
His chief of staff will serve as acting AG
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has resigned at Trump’s request.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1060256619383193601
Here is Sessions’s resignation letter:
At your request, I am submitting my resignation.
Since the day I was honored to be sworn in as Attorney General of the United States, I came to work at the Department of Justice every day determined to do my duty and serve my country. I have done so to the best of my ability, working to support the fundamental legal processes that are the foundation of justice.
The team we assembled embraced your directive to be a law and order Department of Justice. We prosecuted the largest number of violent offenders and firearm defendants in our country’s history. We took on transnational gangs that are bringing violence and death across our borders and protected national security. We did our part to restore immigration enforcement. We targeted the opioid epidemic by prosecuting doctors, pharmacists, and anyone else who contributes to this crisis with new law enforcement tools and determination. And we have seen results. After two years of rising violent crime and homicides prior to this administration, those trends have reversed- thanks to the hard work of our prosecutors and law enforcement around the country.
I am particularly grateful to the fabulous men and women in law enforcement all over this country with whom I have served. I have had no greater honor than to serve alongside them. As I have said many times, they have my thanks and I will always have their backs.
Most importantly, in my time as Attorney General we have restored and upheld the rule of law-a glorious tradition that each of us has a responsibility to safeguard. We have operated with integrity and have lawfully and aggressively advanced the policy agenda of this administration.
I have been honored to serve as Attorney General and have worked to implement the law enforcement agenda based on the rule of law that formed a central part of your campaign for the Presidency.
Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. President.
More as we have it.
REACTIONS
McConnell: I thank Jeff Sessions for his dedicated service as Attorney General. Throughout his career, as a prosecutor, a Senator and as Attorney General, he remained steadfast in his commitment to the rule of law and his love of our great nation. I wish him well
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 7, 2018
Jeff Sessions was one of very few genuine Conservatives to toe the line in the Senate for years. It’s sad and annoying to see some turn on him so harshly now over his tenure as AG. He was and is an honorable man.
— DanRiehl (@DanRiehl) November 7, 2018
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Jeff Sessions' resignation: "Protecting Mueller and his investigation is paramount. It would create a constitutional crisis if this were a prelude to ending or greatly limiting the Mueller investigation." https://t.co/5Mi7dr621o pic.twitter.com/GsSnD6oxBO
— ABC News (@ABC) November 7, 2018
.@SenSchumer calls on acting AG Whitaker to recuse himself from Mueller investigation https://t.co/SfA26v0ock pic.twitter.com/TVhVNHxzet
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 7, 2018
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Comments
So Rosenstein will now surrender supervision of the Special Counsel to Whitaker.
As all acting bosses do, his first action will to be briefed by all applicable subordinates on their activities. That would be *all* of them, including ones that were previously off-limits due to recusal.
If Mueller plays coy and withholds information… make that *when* Mueller withholds information, I would expect nothing less than an immediate sacking in return. Perhaps this is why Mueller wanted to present his report right after the election, because he knew his corner office was going to be getting a new employee then.
What a shit show he has been as AG. Recused himself and let Mueller loose, didn’t do much of anything positive otherwise, and we lost a Senate seat in the process. Good riddance.
My walking partner and I were laughing yesterday morning when we set the Over/Under on Sessions firing at 7 days. It was literally 7 Hours.
Once again, we underestimated Donald Trump.
That’s some good news!
This is a blatant attempt to stop the Mueller investigation; ergo, it’s obstruction of justice. /sarc
This is /sarc/ So thumbs up!
Maybe some factual/actual investigations can NOW take place!
#BringItOn
#InvestigateAllTheLawBreakers
#NoMoreSwampProtection
If he we hand’t lost a Senate seat in the process. Oh, and that phony investigation/witch hunt would have been over before it formally started. Goodbye, Snoozy.
The guy couldn’t even be bothered to start an investigation into why a presidential candidate was spied upon under false pretenses.
The closest thing to a coup attempt this country has ever seen and he didn’t do a damned thing about it.
At least now he can nap in peace.
IMO he was deeply compromised by some Deep State Blackmailing.
But what do I know.
“By their fruits ye shall know them.”
As soon as I signed into LI and glanced at that LI Headline,
without even thinking I automatically exclaimed:
“OH GOOD!”
Has there been a greater disappointment by a cabinet member? I usually don’t get worked up one way or another by these kinds of presidential picks. But I was convinced Sessions would be the man to bring some serious law and order and he blew it right from the beginning.
Say what you will about Sessions, but it quite probable that without him we would not have gotten Trump. He came out EARLY for Trump because of immigration. Dance with the one that brung you.
I believe Sessions is simply too much a gentleman to believe you have to bring a gun to a knife fight.
Sure would like to know the behind the scenes story. It’ll be written some day, although I don’t know if I’ll be around. I think he made the best decisions that he could.
As for the recusal, I wonder how many people, at the time, might have wondered if there wasn’t some truth to the collusion charges and, if so, to what extent.
Mr. Sessions is coming up on 72 years of age in December. I can thank him for his service and God speed as to whatever may await him next.
Post recusal Sessions seemed to have gone about his merry way with no thought whatsoever to the wider political events occurring not just in his own office, but events with international ramifications.
Agents and division heads stonewalling congressional subpoenas from my agency? Oh well, not my business. Former MI6 agents/British intel agencies in cahoots with my agency, the NSA and CIA? Well, shucks. Boys will be boys. But the list was yards long. He walled off every single thing beyond the rote role of a elderly parish prosecutor in 1950’s Georgia.
Both he and Trump handled the thing poorly, but the recusal was stupid and ill-considered and merited his immediate resignation.
good riddance to bad rubbish.
he’s a self-propelled oxygen thief.
now, Kurt Schlicter for AG!
I looked him up. He is a trial lawyer too. Both the Democrats and the GOPe would defecate cinder blocks. I’d love it!
For those of us who have been pleased with the accomplishments of the Trump presidency and are hoping for more—particularly appointment of judges who read the Constitution and our statutes for what they actually say—we should note that Jeff Sessions has been a wonderful TEAM player.
Think of the tsuris that would have been generated had Sessions resigned before the midterm elections!
NAILED IT.
I’ve been saying for months THE DAY after the election Trump was going to fire Sessions.
He deserves it.
you called it. I’m wondering, what was the point in waiting? Serious question, not snark.
Optics too close to the election would have given the leftist scum another crying point to hammer. With holding the Senate, and increasing the number there, it allows the appointment to go through. Had we lost the Senate as well, Sessions would have likely stayed as confirmation would be nearly impossible.
Schumer would say something like that, since that’s who he is. There is absolutely no reason I can see for Whitaker to recuse himself.
I have a high opinion of Sessions the man, and a poor opinion of his performance as AG. Wish him the best. Glad he’s gone.
Good.
Door, ass, etc.
Overdue.
Good man. But honorable to a fault. Passive. I was excited when he was picked, I thought we were getting a Patton.
want to be courteous here, but he handicapped our first two years. It’s like he didn’t understand the stakes. Some smart gal over at Ace’s said it best:
“We need a war time consigliere”
Yes, wartime consigliere is most appropriate. Now get rid of Rodenstein and Mueller, and have Mueller investigated and prosecuted for a vast wasting of taxpayer money under color of authority.
Let Those slimy ass-hamsters like the bug-eyed Schifferbrains and his daddy Schumer, along with scum like Ted Lieu and Nadler die of apoplexy. Dare them to try to do something about it, and show them they have no real power to do anything meaningful. Holder set the bar. Now they can eat it.
No, he’s proved himself to be a quisling.
He should be thrown in the same hole as boehner.
And Boehner 2.0, i.e., Lyin Paul Ryan.
I’m still interested to know what exactly John Brennan has on Ryan and McConnell that gave him the spine to publicly threaten them with obvious confidence that nothing would be done to him about it, i.e., https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/05/21/ex-cia-director-brennan-threatens-ryan-mcconnell-enabling-trump/
A man with honor would have resigned when it became apparent that he was incapable of performing his duties. Sessions is at best a coward, and at worst a traitor.
No, he just has a very confused sense of duty.
That was the popular excuse at the Nurenberg trials.
Didn’t work there either.
I guess Sessions wasn’t playing 64 dimension chess after all.
Is it wrong to laugh about this? The Dem’s celebration isn’t even 12 hours old and already they’re screaming “constitutional crisis” and there’s nothing they can do about it!
The American people call on Senator Schumer and ask him to recuse himself from the United States Senate.
I don’t know what Sessions had going on in his mind when he stepped aside so quickly, without a fight, in his recusal, but that handcuffed the DOJ, and left Rosenstein as defacto AG in the Mueller farce.
He was far too accommodating to politics to go after the crimes of Hillary, of Obama, of Comey, and so on, thinking civility was paramount to reigning in these acts against this country. With his recusal coming right after he was appointed, Sessions waved the white flag to the most important investigations and criminal proceedings and focused on other areas which were invisible against the backdrop of the excusing of the left’s deeds.
The loss of the House makes Sessions poorly handled job as AG more egregious. He had to go. Frankly he should have been gone before it go so close to the elections.
He can prop himself up with self lauding comments about his weaker accomplishments, which were fine, but he failed this country and allowed Mueller and Rosenstein to dominate anything to do with the DOJ.
Sessions also protected Rosenstein, which was yet another blunder. Rosenstein should be following Sessions, and I hope that does happen. I do not trust that man given his obstructions to Congressional requests and his allowing Mueller to be more powerful than his role was ever meant to be.
Unfortunately, I think it is too late a move. With the House being changed the left will hamper things in every direction and the swamp has been recharged and gained power. It’s a shame that Sessions’ last position in government service was ultimately an utter failure, he let this country down, and his actions helped give the left the House.
That rat sessions did enormous damage to our nation.
Be happy the rat is gone.
Sessions didn’t want to do the heavy lifting. He thought he could turn everything over to Rosenstein and make speeches.
Sessions was doomed when it became clear that he was passively, if not actively, protecting Washington Establishment interests. The DOJ actively refused to take any action against entrenched DC political interests and actively obstructed the Congress from doing so. While at the same time, carrying on a legalistic harassment campaign against the sitting President.
At best, Sessions did not have any control over the DOJ. At worst, he was actively participating in cover-ups conducted by that department.
Sessions will be back in the saddle as Senator from Alabama come January, 2021.
Yup.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news-campaigns/415845-sessions-considering-run-for-old-alabama-senate-seat
Jeff Sessions, assuming that he was NOT an active collaborator in the Cabal to remove a duly elected President from office under the ruse that some Phony Russian Collusion occurred, then one has to believe that he is the quintessentil example of “The Peters Principle.” He always seemed “Star Struck” to have been given the job, but he sure didn’t use the opportunity to do what we expected of him and gave away any chance by foolishly recusing himself immediately.
His history doesn’t demonstrate that he had any Executive Management experience. He was an obvious choice for the AG Job given his public positions on illegal immigration, but doing the job of “Cleaning Out the Stable” of the politicized and weaponized Dept. of Justice and FBI was obviously beyond his skill set. He apparently permitted himself to be snookered by Deep State Snake, Rod Rosenstein, into recusing himself which then elevated Rosenstein into being the REAL AG while Sessions was neutered to perform such unimportant matters as going after College Basketball Coaches, jawboning that college campuses ought to permit First Amendment Rights, and others.
I noticed his face seem to be covered with sweat as he was leaving the DoJ same as one may expect a person having a heart attack; he likely expected to be fired, but perhaps not quite so fast.
I’ve seen some of the names floated as Session’s replacement, e.g., Chris Christie, Rudy Guiliani, and Janice Rogers Brown, and I’m not feeling the “Love” to get the kind of job we need done accomplished with them. We need a top to bottom Colon Flush to get all the garbage that accumulated for 8 years under Obola, Holder, and Lynch. I don’t think that another politician would be wise and if a woman of color is selected and it doesn’t work out, how the hell do you politically dismiss her without damaging the President?
We absolutely need to hold members of Team Obama to account or there will be no barrier to seeing the same kinds of behavior again. And, we definitely need to have an AG that is going to go after membrs of Congress who have been leaking.
Now with a new AG maybe we’ll see him institute proceedings to investigate Hillary for ALL of her crimes.