Trump talked with Sessions aide about serving as attorney general: report

President Trump reportedly spoke with Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s chief of staff Matthew Whitaker about replacing Sessions in his role, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Sources briefed on the matter told the Post that the conversation was vague and did not specify if Whitaker would take over in an interim or permanent capacity, or how serious the president's proposal was.

The attorney general and the president have had an embittered relationship since Sessions recused himself from the Justice Department’s (DOJ) investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed special counsel Robert Mueller to take over the probe after Sessions’s recusal. Mueller and his investigation have been targeted by Trump and his administration, often being denounced as a "witch hunt."

“The Russian Witch Hunt Hoax continues, all because Jeff Sessions didn’t tell me he was going to recuse himself...I would have quickly picked someone else. So much time and money wasted, so many lives ruined … and Sessions knew better than most that there was No Collusion!” Trump tweeted in June.

The Russian Witch Hunt Hoax continues, all because Jeff Sessions didn’t tell me he was going to recuse himself...I would have quickly picked someone else. So much time and money wasted, so many lives ruined...and Sessions knew better than most that there was No Collusion!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2018 Rosenstein has also been seen as a top target of Trump's, with reports last month suggesting the president could fire his deputy attorney general. Trump, however, sought to downplay reports, stating Monday that he would not fire Rosenstein.

Trump, last month, escalated his attacks on Sessions, telling Hill.TV, “I don’t have an attorney general.”

Speculation that the president would fire Sessions regained steam after Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that the attorney general would “very likely” be fired after November’s midterm elections.

“I think there will come a time, sooner rather than later, where it will be time to have a new face and a fresh voice at the Department of Justice,” Graham told Bloomberg News. “Clearly, Attorney General Sessions doesn’t have the confidence of the president.”

Whitaker penned an op-ed for CNN in Aug. 2017 in which he said Mueller would cross a “red line” if he began looking into the finances of Trump and his family.

If Whitaker were to replace Sessions, he could be in a position to supervise the Mueller probe, the Post noted. Ethics officials, however, would first likely review his past statements to explore any potential conflicts of interest, according to the paper.

The White House and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Hill.

From wikipedia

Whitaker was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2014 United States Senate election in Iowa. The seat was being vacated by Democrat Tom Harkin. He came fourth in the Republican primary, with 11,909 votes (7.54%). The nomination was won by Joni Ernst, who went on to win the general election.[6]

Afterwards, Matthew was a managing partner of Des Moines-based law firm Whitaker Hagenow & Gustoff LLP now Hagenow Gustoff and Dummermuth LLP. He was also Executive Director of The Foundation for Accountability & Civic Trust (FACT), a conservative, nonprofit 501(c)(3) “organization dedicated to promoting accountability, ethics, and transparency in government and civic arenas by hanging a lantern over public officials who put their own interests over the interests of the public good.”[7]

On October 23, 2014, Whitaker joined the advisory board for World Patent Marketing, a patent assistance organization based out of Miami, Florida and founded in February 2014. He said, “World Patent Marketing has become a trusted partner to many inventors that believe in the American Dream...I have always admired World Patent Marketing and its innovative products and dynamic leadership team. It’s an honor to join the World Patent Marketing board.”[8] This was re-announced the following week with the title, “Former US Attorney Whitaker Joins World Patent Marketing to Protect Inventors From Patent Marketing Scam”, and the statement, “’World Patent Marketing is deeply concerned about the integrity of the patent system,’ according to Bill Flanagan, VP of Public Relations for WorldPatentMarketing.com, ‘As the fastest growing patent assistance company, it is our responsibility to weed out the bad actors.’”[9] Less than two months later, the company announced his “renewal”, and Whitaker stated, “As a former US Attorney, I would only align myself with a first class organization...World Patent Marketing goes beyond making statements about doing business ‘ethically’ and translate (sic) those words into action.”[10] CEO Scott J. Cooper “gave Whitaker’s 2014 Senate campaign a $2,600 donation and paid him nearly $10,000, World Patent Marketing records show.”[11] The firm was closed in May 2017 by the Federal Trade Commission for fraud.[12] Five months later, in October 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed Whitaker to be his Chief of Staff.[13]

In early September 2018, Whitaker, who has been Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ chief of staff since September 2017,[14] was revealed to be on the short list of President Trump’s White House staff as the replacement for Don McGahn as the White House Counsel.[15][16][17] During the commotion created by conflicting reports about Rod Rosenstein’s firing, resignation and eventual retention on September 25th, 2018, Whitaker is reported to have told officials that he would assume Rosenstein’s duties, while control of the Russia Investigation would fall to the Solicitor General, Noel Francisco.[18] The New York Times reported on September 25, 2018 that White House chief of staff John Kelly advised Whitaker that he would be appointed acting deputy attorney general should Rosenstein exit, and described Whitaker as a Trump loyalist who, if appointed, “could have visibility into the special counsel’s work.”[19]

Team Trump has been piping in fake leaks to WaPost and NYT for well over a year. Sessions and RR will not be fired. Sessions and RR were appointed well after POTUS was informed by Mike Rogers of the spying and Russia frame job two weeks after the election, maybe earlier.

Trump knows RR was being set up by losers McCabe and Lisa Page over the “wear a wire” crap. What this tells me is that McCabe and Lisa Page wanted RR thrown overboard by, in their walnut sized brains, a violently furiously unhinged Trump.

RR and Sessions both are doing a lot behind the scenes. They are building ironclad cases agains some of the slimiest lawyers in the country who will be representing all of the swamp’s very worst.

WH leaks are generally fake. Trumps tweets about Sessions are a smokescreen. Sessions’ job is not to be Trump’s fixer. His job is to serve as AG.

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