Posted on 07/28/2017 9:44:41 AM PDT by Kaslin
Given the bravery he showed in stepping out front as the first senator to endorse Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions deserves better from his boss than the Twitter-trashing he has lately received.
The attorney general has not only been loyal to Trump and his agenda, he has the respect and affection of ex-colleagues in Congress and, more broadly, of populists and conservatives nationally.
Trump's tweets about Sessions are only demoralizing his base.
Yet the president is not wrong to be exasperated and enraged.
A yearlong FBI investigation into Russian hacking has failed to produce a single indictment. Yet the president watches impotently as a special counsel pulls together a lethal force, inside his own administration, whose undeclared ambition is to bring him down.
Trump's behavior suggests that he sees the Mueller threat as potentially mortal.
How did we get to this peril point when there is no evidence that Trump or any senior aide colluded in the hacking?
As for the June 2016 meeting with the Russians, called by Donald Trump Jr. when told by a friend that Moscow had dirt on Hillary Clinton, even that was no crime.
Foolish, yes; criminal, no. So, again, how did we get to where talk of impeachment and presidential pardons fills the air?
First, Attorney General Sessions, as a campaign adviser and surrogate for Trump who had met with the Russian ambassador, had to recuse himself from the investigation. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein then assumed oversight authority.
Trump then fired FBI Director James Comey and boasted to Russia's foreign minister about having gotten the "crazy nut job" off his case. His Oval Office comments leaked. Comey then leaked notes of his meeting with Trump. Rosenstein then washed his hands of the mess by naming a special counsel.
And he chose a bulldog, ex-FBI Director Robert Mueller.
Hence, where are we? Despite zero evidence of Trump or his aides colluding in the hacking, a counterintelligence investigation is evolving into a criminal investigation. Mueller is now hiring veteran investigators and prosecutors specializing in white-collar crime.
This is not a witch hunt. It is an Easter egg hunt on the White House lawn, where the most colorful eggs are likely to be the tax returns and the financial records of Trump, who built a real estate empire in a town where winners brag about how they gutted the losers.
Every enemy of Trump is going to be dropping the dime on him to Mueller. Moreover, there is no history of special counsels being appointed and applauded by the press, who went home without taking scalps. Trump understands this. Reports of his frustration and rage suggest that he knows he has been maneuvered, partly by his own mistakes, into a kill box from which there may be no bloodless exit.
What Trump needs is a leader at Justice who will confine the Mueller investigation to the Russian hacking, and keep Mueller's men from roaming until they hit prosecutorial pay dirt.
Consider now Trump's narrowing options.
He can fire Jeff Sessions. But that will enrage Trump's base to whom the senator is a loyal soldier. And anyone Trump nominates as AG would not be confirmed unless he or she pledged not to interfere with Mueller.
He could direct Rosenstein to fire Mueller. But Rosenstein would assume the Elliot Richardson role in the Saturday Night Massacre, when that AG refused to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, resigned, and was canonized as a martyr by the Never-Nixon media.
Even if Trump finds a Justice Department loyalist to play the role of Solicitor General Robert Bork, who carried out Nixon's orders and fired Cox, this would only mean Mueller's departure. Mueller's staff of prosecutors and investigators would still be there, beavering away.
When Archibald Cox was fired, Nixon ordered his entire office shut down. Yet, within days of the firestorm, it was up and running again with a new special prosecutor. And impeachment resolutions were blossoming in the House.
Another Trump option would be to leave Mueller alone and hope for a benign outcome. But from reports of his rage at the recusal of Sessions and unwillingness of Rosenstein to restrict Mueller to the Russian hacking scandal, Trump seems to sense that an unrestricted investigation represents a mortal threat to his presidency.
And all the talk of impeachment and pardons suggests that this city can also see what lies over the next hill. After all, we have been here before.
From his history, Mueller is not a man to be intimidated by charges of bias. These will only steel his resolve to pursue with his subpoena power every document he wants, including tax returns, until he has satisfied himself.
The president is unlikely to view this process with indulgence, and patience does not appear to rank high among his virtues.
We are headed for a collision between President Trump and Director Mueller.
“It could all be a setup.”
It’s not. There is no grand strategy that Trump and Sessions have coordinated. None. Sessions recusal screwed Trump but good and he will not resign so Trump is trapped by the vacancy rules. No 3D chess just a weak AG and a POTUS under siege.
You know I am middle age and do not use social media.
Trump is raking the media over the coals is what the tweets are about. And I think, I maybe wrong, that the tweets about Sessions are to distract and confuse the deep state/media.
Like the cats chasing the red lazer spot all over.
Explicitly and unambiguously, Director Comey described a counterintelligence investigation, not a criminal investigation.
[Trump could] instruct his Justice Department to comply with federal regulations.
Sessions could be directed to consider whether his recusal complies with the regulation that limits disqualification to criminal investigations as to which there is a conflict.
Rosenstein could be directed to consider whether his appointment of a special counsel complies with the regulations that limit such appointments to criminal investigations or prosecutions as to which the Justice Department is conflicted. He could further be directed to specify exactly what potential crimes the special counsel is authorized to investigate.
Finally, after Rosenstein specifies the crimes, Mueller could be invited to seek an expansion of his jurisdiction if he can demonstrate that he has legitimately found evidence of other crimes.
If this were done, if the regulations were followed, all of us, including the president, would know what crimes the president is suspected of committing . . . if there are any.
excerpts from http://www.nationalreview.com/article/449849/sessions-trump-following-federal-regulations-could-have-avoided-mess
I’ve never bought into the 3-D chess bit. What Trump has is a point of view and a will to fight.
I’m with you.
His public tweets and statements trashing members of his admin are not helpful or necessary .
Pat Buchanan goes off the rails too often.
***********
True, but the Deep State is out to get him and they have lots of resources at their disposal so Buchanan is not too far off the mark IMO. Mueller, the courts, the media, Democrat obstructionists, Obama bureaucrat holdovers, and his own party are all aligned against this outsider who would dare to challenge their political hegemony. The Swamp is reacting to Trump in much the same way insects swarm against intruders to protect their hives. Trump will be stung again and again.
But I do think that last night’s train wreck was good for him in one respect: it epitomized everything that Trump has been saying about DC. It clearly is the Swamp he said it was.
So in a way, the Republican failure (and the Democrats’ refusal to do anything to undo the burden of Obamacare) buttresses Trump’s constant theme about how corrupt and dysfunctional Washington really is.
So I'm supposed to feel enraged at Trump if he fires Sessions?
Nope.
The 'rub'...
Taking out the quasi ethical ("DC" ethics) Mueller would leave us with his merry band of Clinton loyalists ready for blood - - a bunch lacking in Mueller's DC ethics - (one step better than 'no ethics') while holding an irrationally strong tribal hatred for Trump...
Trump's got to figure this one out...
Ramping up the heat on Clinton crimes might be the path... kind of a mutually assure destruction gambit... Liz, is the DNC/ Muslim brothers/money laundering and espionage enough?
No conservative can support *ANYBODY* who is in favor or Civil Asset Forfeiture (prior to a *conviction*). Period.
Business type leaders are not snowflakes they are street fighters
It’s really fun to see the Freeper metrosexuals whine incessantly about politicians who are not simmering pansies who faint at a harsh word.
Capitulation used be so in fashion, and now we have fighters.
Trump says mean things. He hires people who says mean things. They aren’t polite. Even though the Ailinsky tactic is.designed to eviscerate the polite, our metrosexuals value politeness over literal survival.
I'm one of the first passengers on the Trump Train....my FR posts confirm that. But I'm keeping it real. This summer break can save the presidency. President Trump has got to figure out what can be done while they're gone through executive order and through Cabinet officials and other appointees loyal to Trump to move the Deplorable Agenda forward. When people see results BECAUSE the swampthings left DC, he'll solidify his base, plus some.
Next step, and I'm not sure it's Trump's specialty, is to get some serious analysis done and figure out just who the leakers are. It should be doable....look at who had access to leaked information, and figure out what names keep showing up. Those are the ones who either are the leakers or know who the leakers are. Those people should be fired if they don't name the leakers. That would mean it's them.
Next step, who's loyal, and some guidelines about how they're spoken about. Putting AG Sessions in a bad light is just not acceptable. I don't think I'm the only Deplorable who feels this way.
Next step, get a small, loyal support staff in the WH, and that's all. Career folks who can't be fired? I'm sure the Smithsonian has rest rooms with toilets that need full time staff to clean them. The other thing, family in government. Jared might be okay; he seems to be very loyal and very dedicated to the president's success. But Ivanka? I wish she'd step down and be something like Women's Issues World Ambassador. JMHO, but she just doesn't seem astute enough to avoid inadvertently feeding the swampthings. And how about getting some loyal Deplorables who aren't politicians appointed to the WH and other positions? That's whom President Trump can trust.
Lean and mean, get it together. Drain that swamp before the creatures return. Otherwise, governing is not possible.
(end of this rant)
Your supporters deserved better from you than when you chose a communist to be your v.p. running mate when you ran for president.
yes, its call the “republican presidency”
I just heard Roger Stone state that Preibus was the one who recommended Rosenstein... who then appointed the Special Prosecutor when no one requested he do so
It would be unwise to fire Session since it would further the Democrat’s false narrative of Trump interfering in an investigation (an investigation which itself is a false narrative) and would give them their lusted after “Saturday night massacre”. Firing Sessions would be a dream come true for Democrats.
We should all remember that Trump’s enemies will have a field day if Sessions is fired. They will point to this as yet another example of disarray and confusion in the White House.
And God forbid Trump should fire Mueller. Buchanan makes excellent points referring back to the Saturday Night Massacre. He should know. He was there.
Youre in the minority here. Boy oh boy.
It may not have been requested, but Democrats were clamoring for it.
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