Posted on 07/19/2017 6:14:34 PM PDT by SkyPilot
President Trump said on Wednesday that he never would have appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions had he known Mr. Sessions would recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation that has dogged his presidency, calling the decision “very unfair to the president.”
In a remarkable public break with one of his earliest political supporters, Mr. Trump complained that Mr. Sessions’s decision ultimately led to the appointment of a special counsel that should not have happened. “Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else,” Mr. Trump said.
In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, the president also accused James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director he fired in May, of trying to leverage a dossier of compromising material to keep his job. Mr. Trump criticized both the acting F.B.I. director who has been filling in since Mr. Comey’s dismissal and the deputy attorney general who recommended it. And he took on Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel now leading the investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s election.
Mr. Trump said Mr. Mueller was running an office rife with conflicts of interest and warned investigators against delving into matters too far afield from Russia. Mr. Trump never said he would order the Justice Department to fire Mr. Mueller, nor would he outline circumstances under which he might do so. But he left open the possibility as he expressed deep grievance over an investigation that has taken a political toll in the six months since he took office.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I agree with one thing — Sessions really cares, and you can tell by his crackdown on MS-13. He cares about the open borders too.
“Come together people!! The libs love it when we’re fragmented and pessimistic. Don’t give those malcontents the pleasure !”
No — rally behind Trump. He’s the fighter here. He’s the one trying to carry the football farther down the field.
A man like Trump counts his words carefully........nothing he says is off-the-cuff, unplanned or misspoken.
At that level of govt, nothing is by chance-—there’s a huge built-in megaphone that resonates across continents.
The spoken word is powerful........usually used to advance an agenda.
“Trump will feel the blow-back from this action. He is going to lose a lot of support. “
No he won’t.
He’ll probably gain support.
Sessions kicked our President in the family jewels when he recused himself over the Russia BS. A complete & total fail.
Trump criticized Sessions thusly: "Jeff Sessions gave some bad answers... He gave some answers that were simple questions and should have been simple answers, but they weren't."
I assume that is a reference to not disclosing that he met with the Russian ambassador. The exchange below is the root and the only root the press spins up as "the reason Sessions had to recuse."
FRANKEN: OK. CNN has just published a story and I'm telling you this about a news story that's just been published. I'm not expecting you to know whether or not it's true or not. But CNN just published a story alleging that the intelligence community provided documents to the president-elect last week that included information that quote, "Russian operatives claimed to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump." These documents also allegedly say quote, "There was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump's surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government."Jeff Sessions Confirmation Hearing - January 10, 2017Now, again, I'm telling you this as it's coming out, so you know. But if it's true, it's obviously extremely serious and if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do?
SESSIONS: Senator Franken, I'm not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I didn't have -- did not have communications with the Russians, and I'm unable to comment on it.
Sessions addressed the subject of this answer, at length, directly, in prepared remarks, delivered at the opening of his June testimony before Senate Intelligence.
Link to transcript of June 13, 2017 testimony, in case anybody wants to read those remarks.
-- Trump's using an old leadership trick -- put the monkey on the other guy's back.
If Sessions had to recuse, that's HIS problem, not Trump's. If Sessions can't do his job, that's the bottom line. --
If we lived in a parallel universe where Sessions had not recused, and failure to do so (which would be a violation of DoJ conflict management regulations) didn't create a storm of its own right - what constitutes Sessions "doing his job" with the issue?
Sessions is OVERRATED and under performing.
Your times is UP!
“It’s astounding candor, but I don’t think he was speaking thoughtlessly. This is something many people still don’t realize about him. Many shockingly blunt things that Donald Trump says are nonetheless well-considered, and intended for a specific purpose. That fact should not be flippantly disregarded. “
EXACTLY CORRECT.
Trump is a GENIUS. Never forget that. He’s always playing 3 D chess. NOTHING is done for nothing.
“So you’re not convinced by the evidence.”
Evidence? The evidence you cite, generated by a suspect company, has been discounted long ago. To believe it, you have to take their word for it and the word of Obama operatives.
Yes, yes. And all the outlets you’d expect are trumpeting the story this morning.
It might be a ploy to direct attention away from healthcare negotiations. Throw the hyenas of the press a few bones to chew on.
I got to admit, before Trump, I was not very engaged in politics. It’s a fascinating detective story... an object lesson on how power can be wrested from a corrupt press and government.
Wonder if civics test books will ever be the same... once We the Parents of American kids gain control of the educational curriculum again.
You don’t know, what you don’t know.
I think we should absolutely rally behind Trump, but I see no reason to sour on Sessions. Stay the course people.. there is nothing I’m seeing that says Sessions is sitting on his hands in his office.
Nobody here has any idea what is really happening. Even many of the FR “insiders” are speculating. Says a lot.
I think there’s more than meets the eye here... and people need to be patient. No, it’s not easy!
“If I know Jeff Sessions, his resignation is already on Trump’s desk”
I sure hope you are correct.
“Trump should not have given an interview to the Times. “
Trump can make his own decisions. He has his reasons.
That’s right. I’m gonna go with “staged WWE match” on this one.
It’s not about “loyalty” it’s about WINNING a WAR.
PC is OUT, WINNING is IN. Get used to it.
Sessions...... you’re FIRED!
Maggie and the Times are the enemy. Trump is not going to be on the level with them.
I can't guess what his objective is here, but this is a head fake of some kind.
“this is like GWB nominating Harriet Miers. “
YES!, appointing Sessions has turned out to be just like that. (Jeff (Harriet Miers) Sessions
That’s the best post I’ve seen on this topic. Great point.
I will just love it if there is a recess appointment massacre.
‘I think we should absolutely rally behind Trump, but I see no reason to sour on Sessions.’
You’ll get nasty remarks from others, and that’s because the Clinton/Soros machine is the most dangerous cancer on Planet Earth [speaking secularly].
It’s very simple. People want to know that Trump and Sessions are going to do what no one has ever surived doing before — taking on the Clinton Machine is like trying to surive Niagra Falls, and so far no one has survived the leap yet.
But Soros and the Clintons will pass the torch to the next monsters if Trump lets them. [It looks like Obama’s already taking it up.]
Agreed. Great post Rooster and right on!
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