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 ...
From your lips - Sessions has turned out to be a huge disappointment - we wanted fire we got ice.
I see where this is going.
This is going to be a bigger disaster than the Comey firing.
The President’s reactions seem to throw gasoline on the flames.
I’d probably be better.
Sessions did not directly answer the question about how he felt about Trump's remarks, other than he claimed to have no intention to resign he enjoyed the work, and the work does help the president. Sessions cited the health care takedown last week, and the AlphaBay takedown announced today.
Sessions appeared to be in good spirits, he showed no sign of tension or anger, and he preferred attention and congratulations be given to Rosenstein and McCabe, and the people who did the work leading to the announced takedown.
Question heard as Sessions, Rosenstein and McCabe left the stage after questions:
Are you concerned about being a "Zombie AG?"
I like the analogy.
I really am a Guiliani fan as well but apparently he has an alcohol problem & his health is not good enough to take the abuse. President Trump made a difficult decision to use him in specific areas as issues arise rather than fulltime.
Trump said Mueller would cross a red line if he went after business dealings not having to do with Russia. Now Bloomberg is reporting that Mueller is doing just that.
It has been suggested that this is a way to cripple Soros & other Globalists. I am uncomfortable with apparent abandonment of the innocent until proven guilty but perhaps there is more here than meets they eye and for that type of prey you need a powerful harpoon.
Perhaps the threat is a weapon in itself.
Sessions is hardly perfect, but he's still one of the best Attorney Generals in the past half century or more when it comes to enforcing our immigration laws. I'd hate to see him go and get replaced by an establishmentarian who's soft on illegals, so I wouldn't be so quick to throw him under the bus.
Thanks for that link. That is a very heartening confirmation that "the game's afoot."
Perhaps the strategy here is to force the incumbent Deep State to go after their fellow swampsters, accept what busts they do turn in. Keep your enemies closer, and all that.
Sessions just said he was going to serve as AG as long as is appropriate.
Trump is upset with the fact that his family's financial dealings are now being investigated by Mueller. He is flailing about trying to find a scapegoat. It is unfathomable to me why he would be bearing his soul to the NYT. He attacked Sessions, Rosenstein, Comey, and Mueller responding to leading questions from the NYT reporters.
This story is far from over. I hope and pray that Session stays, but if were a betting man, I still think Sessions will leave. Kris Kobach would be an acceptable replacement, but he would cause a firestorm during the confirmation hearings. Kris is now running for governor of Kansas. He was a Deputy AG under Ashcroft.
Well, you were wrong. The AP is reporting Sessions says he will not resign despite the rebuke from the President. The other headline is that Mueller’s witch hunt is now expanding to Trump’s business deals and partners that have nothing to do with Trump. And Sessions is DIRECTLY to blame for this fiasco.
Thanks Daily Mail has a piece up now: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4714748/I-plan-continue-Sessions-says-s-NOT-resigning.html
“Sessions was asked how he could continue to serve in his job without the full confidence of the president.
‘We’re serving him right now,’ he responded, referring to the array of talent standing behind him.
‘The work we’re doing today is the kind of work that we intend to continue. ... I’m totally confident that we can continue to run this office in an effective way.’
“
And Sessions is DIRECTLY to blame for this fiasco.
How so? Even if he did not recuse himself, he could have appointed a special prosecutor based on Comey's leaks and now DJT Jr.'s Russian lawyer meeting. The FBI initiated an investigation of the Trump campaign in July 2016, long before Sessions was on the scene. A FISA warrant was granted in October 2016. Sessions did not initiate the Steele dossier.
This "fiasco" is an orchestrated political coup aided by a Keystone Cop reaction by the Trump campaign. Kushner and DJT Jr should have reported their Russian contacts in full instead of multiple amendments of their federal forms. Flynn should have been more candid with the President and Pence. Sessions is a victim, not a perpetrator of this "fiasco." There is plenty of blame to go around.
Maybe, maybe not.
More going on than meets the eye.
You refuse to see this situation for what it is, refuse to acknowledge the basic facts, and refuse to assign proper blame where it clearly lies. Your past relationship with Sessions has clouded your judgment and objectivity.
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