Let’s say Trump had appointed YOU as AG. On day 1 you would have arrested Hillary and a bunch of others. And by now, they all would have been “cleared” of any wrongdoing, and you AND Trump would have been impeached by both Dems AND Repubs.
You simply don’t understand the mess that Jeff Sessions inherited. Decades of Swamp-loving Presidents stuffing DOJ/FBI with every big-brother scumweasel your worst nightmares could envision has turned DOJ/FBI into the most corrupt agency in D.C..
Session has the worst job in Washington, maybe in history. The day he walked in the door, there wasn’t ONE person he could trust. He had to start from scratch building a entirely new organization, with almost all new faces. Think Elliot Ness in the Untouchables having to “pick an apple from the tree, instead of the rotten barrel.”
Not only that, but there isn’t ONE person who is happy with the job he is doing. Since day one, there has been a constant clamor from conservatives, (me included) to “Lock Her Up” and go after the numerous gov scums that have broken the law. (Lois Lerner, Eric Holder, etc., etc.) Everybody, including the President who hired him, is unhappy.
OK, let’s say Sessions walked in on day one, and ordered a new investigation or prosecution of Hillary. The first thing he would’ve needed to do is assign the job to someone in the dept that was certain to do everything to clear her name, and make the administration look bad to the point of impeachment. That means leaks to the media, and more importantly, suspects under investigation. It means shoddy interviews and gifts of immunity for telling the investigators their dog’s name.
Speaking of immunity, just think of the time Sessions will have to spend revoking the immunity gifts given by the dept before he arrived.
Unfortunately, he probably hasn’t even been able to start that yet. How long does it take to put together a team of people you know you can trust to do the job at hand? Just think of the number of new people he had to put through the vetting process, hire, and then re-evaluate after a few months on the job. I had to do it in a department of ten people, and it took me almost a year to run the weasels out without them having grounds for a lawsuit. I then had to invest time to properly train their replacements. Imagine how long that takes in an agency the size of DOJ/FBI!
Then there all the information systems and their administrators that need a complete revamp. It does no good to have a top-secret investigation with your reliable agents feeding all the data into a corrupt system maintained by traitors. Any decent database admin could write code that wiped out info on specific investigations by subject, agent, etc. Of course, they would have already leaked the info to the media, DNC, etc.
Sessions has been quietly rebuilding a completely corrupt organization from the ground up. At some point (hopefully soon) we will see some fruit from all of Sessions’ work.
Let’s say Trump had appointed YOU as AG. On day 1 you would have arrested Hillary and a bunch of others…Session has the worst job in Washington, maybe in history. The day he walked in the door, there wasn’t ONE person he could trust. He had to start from scratch building a entirely new organization, with almost all new faces.
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First off, your initial statement is an asinine assumption and a ridiculous straw man argument as a premise. I won’t even bother to respond to the absurdity of it but I will say that such an unthoughtful, unlawful and emotional kneejerk reaction would have been a violation of due process that would have damaged both the DOJ and Trump.
I will tell you what I would have done on day one however. I would have made it crystal clear from my first day as AG that integrity, accountability, and the restoration of the public’s confidence in the DOJ and FBI were the new currency of the realm and my highest priorities. Moreover, I wouldn’t tolerate excuses and insubordination; to do so sets a terrible precedent that only begets more of the same destructive behavior. Those would be a one way ticket out of the organization.
That said, I do agree with you that Sessions inherited a mess. But he is NOT the only cabinet level secretary, executive or senior manager in history who has faced resistance or similar challenges. One of the many problems with Sessions is that he has no executive experience. Did you even know that? It doesn’t sound like you did. He had a 20 year legal career and served as the Alabama AG for just two years before coming to Washington DC where he spent the next twenty years as a senator. He’s a lifelong politician and DC Swamp dweller. Here’s a tip for you: When you appoint someone with little to no management experience don’t be surprised when they fail. If management was easy, everyone could do it.
Secondly, it’s a tough job to be sure but far from the worst job in DC or in history. Virtually every federal agency in DC is infested with liberals – at all levels — who dislike, if not loathe, Republicans. Every Republican cabinet secretary has to basically start from scratch and is faced with daunting management challenges. If you can’t stand the organizational heat, get out of the leadership kitchen.
I was once part of a new management team that was brought in to merge two very different organizations in terms of work culture, expectations, and entrenched ways. Some people who refused to adapt were displaced. Many were resentful but eventually gave way to the new powers that be and they accepted the reality of a new agenda and management’s vision for the organization. Strong and principled management prevailed, as it usually does.
I stand by my initial post: Sessions is not an effective executive. He is weak and has stood by and watched the once trusted agency he heads descend into chaos. Difficult circumstances for sure, but again, he wanted job. Unfortunately, he essentially recused himself from his job and has been nearly invisible. And perhaps worst of all, everyone in Washington knows that he has allowed Rod Rosenstein to become the defacto Attorney General. Jeff Sessions refused to fight. At least Eric Holder fought for his boss.