Trump Rushes to Oust Attorney General Sessions, Draws Battle Lines

Last updated on: November 7, 2018 at 8:19 pm by Susan Wright

Trump Rushes to Oust Attorney General Sessions, Draws Battle Lines 2018-11-07T20:19:12-05:00 Susan Wright

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Well, it’s been said (correctly) that everything Donald Trump touches dies.

Next on the chopping block is Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

That should read, FORMER Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

On Wednesday, one day after the midterm elections, President Trump did what many had feared he would do: He fired Sessions.

Trump has long held a grudge against Sessions, who was one of his earliest and most ardent supporters, for recusing himself from the Russia probe and not serving as his personal shield.

President Trump has no clue what the purpose of the attorney general is.

For his part, Sessions is calling it a “resignation.”

In a letter to Trump, Sessions wrote he had been “honored to serve as Attorney General” and had “worked to implement the law enforcement agenda based on the rule of law that formed a central part of your campaign for the presidency.” Trump tweeted that Sessions would be replaced on an acting basis by Matthew G. Whitaker, who had been serving as Sessions’s chief of staff.

“We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well!” Trump tweeted. “A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date.”

So let’s be clear. This is an attempt to hobble the efforts of Robert Mueller and the Russia probe.

If you need any further proof, keep in mind that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the man who was left to oversee the Russia probe, after Sessions’ recusal was not chosen to take Sessions’ place, and was, in fact, booted off of the probe in favor of Whitaker. Whitaker wrote in 2017 that the Mueller probe had crossed a line and needed to be kept in check.

Gee… I wonder how he got the nod?

A legal commentator before he came into the Justice Department, Whitaker has mused publicly about how a Sessions replacement might reduce Mueller’s budget “so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt.” He also wrote in a September 2017 column that Mueller had “come up to a red line in the Russia 2016 election-meddling investigation that he is dangerously close to crossing,” after CNN reported that the special counsel could be looking into Trump and his associates’ financial ties to Russia.

A White House official said Trump had been held at bay to demand Sessions’s resignation until after the Tuesday’s midterm elections, but he talked eagerly about ousting his attorney general as soon as the votes were tallied. The person said other Cabinet officials were also in jeopardy.

According to an administration official, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly was the one to deliver the news to Sessions, calling him up earlier Wednesday and telling him Trump was looking for him to turn in his resignation.

This was before a sprawling, hateful press conference, where the president, along with announcing Sessions’ resignation, drew a line in the sand. He threatened the incoming Democrat majority to the House with investigations, should they attempt to push investigations into his activities further. He also mocked defeated Republicans for not “embracing him.”

Going down the line, he called each name: Mike Coffman, Barbara Comstock, Carlos Curbelo, Peter Roskam, Erik Paulsen, John Faso, Bob Hugin, and Utah Congresswoman Mia Love.

Of Love he said, “Mia Love gave me no love and she lost. Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia.

President Trump lists Republicans who didn't embrace him and lost. "They did very poorly. I'm not sure that I should be happy or sad, but I feel just fine about it."

"Mia Love gave me no love and she lost. Too bad. Sorry about that Mia." pic.twitter.com/ZV7EKcWjLX

— CSPAN (@cspan) November 7, 2018

What sort of president insists lawmakers should “embrace” him?

One who doesn’t understand the idea of three separate, but co-equal branches of government.

While he’s publicly announced that Tuesday night’s election was a win for him, the man is stressing, so he’s making the kind of moves that could likely come back to bite him.

Until that happens, however, keep your eyes on Whitaker. There’s nothing in his background that makes him uniquely qualified to act as our Attorney General, other than the fact that he’s a Trump loyalist and says the things Trump wants to hear.

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