Attorney General Jeff Sessions Is in a Buzz Saw -- Why?

THE REAL NEWS TODAY IS THAT SOMETIMES A GOOD "COMMENT" SAYS IT ALL . This comment was posted to a Newsmax article about President Trump thinking of naming Rudy Giuliani as Attorney General : "BigSkyTexan : "Gads I loved Sessions before he recused himself on Russia. Hate to see him go, but no choice. Lesson to all 'R's, never ever, NEVER EVER, cave to Democrat demands without legal requirement. It's war and it's for warriors, not boy scouts." • If we could make every Republican in Congress memorize and live by that comment, America would already be a much better place. • • • THE FACTS -- TRUMP ATTACK ON SESSIONS. The Attorney General, the former six-term Republican Senator from Alabama, was one of Trump's earliest supporters on Capitol Hill. After being confirmed in his office, Sessions recused himself from the Justice Department's Russia probe in March, though he lambasted accusations that he had misled Congress in not disclosing two meetings with the Russian ambassador last year. Last Thursday, President Trump gave an interview to the New York Times, in the Oval Office. In the interview, the President said : "Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself, which frankly I think is very unfair to the President. How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, 'Thanks, Jeff, but I’m not going to take you.' It’s extremely unfair -- and that’s a mild word -- to the President." President Trump also harshly criticized his Attorney General for not giving accurate statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee relating to meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak : "Jeff Sessions gave some bad answers. He gave some answers that were simple questions and should have been simple answers, but they weren’t." Trump's disappointment with Sessions appeared again on Monday when he tweeted that the "beleaguered" Attorney General should be among those probing Hillary Clinton's "crimes" and "Russia relations" : "So why aren't the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered AG, looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?" • Sessions testified before the Senate panel in January, saying that he had not met with any Russians except as part of his duties as a US Senator, but not as part of his role as a Trump campaign advisor. • • • THE REACTION TO TRUMP'S ATTACK. The hugely influential conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Monday it was a bit "unseemly" for President Trump to publicly criticize Attorney General Jeff Sessions, especially since Sessions was an early and loyal backer. Limbaugh told his listeners : "Whatever you've read and whatever you've heard about the President being really, really mad that Sessions recused himself is true times two. He was genuinely livid over it." Limbaugh said that while there is plenty of blame to go around in Sessions' recusal, which led to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Trump needs people like Sessions on his team. Limbaugh gave a realistic description of AG Sessions : "Sessions is a by-the-book Attorney General, a by-the-book legal mind. That's, I think, one of the bones of contention here because it's arguable that he didn't need to recuse himself." Still, Limbaugh added, it's "a little bit discomforting, unseemly for Trump to go after such a loyal supporter this way. Especially when Sessions made it obvious he's not gonna resign." Limbaugh called the statement to the Times an invitation to resign, but Sessions didn't take it, instead doubling down on how much he loves the job and intends to keep doing it. For that reason, according to Limbaugh, Trump is likely going to have to fire Sessions if he doesn't resign on his own after the latest swipe. • On the openly anti-Trump side, CNN's Chris Cillizza wrote on Monday that President Trump clearly wants a new Attorney General but doesn't want to fire Jeff Sessions to get there -- he wants Sessions to quit....He wants to make Sessions' life so uncomfortable that Sessions throws up his hands and walks away." • Fox News' Judge Andrew Napolitano was the first to offer that analysis last week. But, Cillizza wrote on Monday : "Sessions hasn't responded to this latest Trump volley. But, at this point, it is very tough for Sessions to simply ignore the message coming out of the White House. And that message is : We want you gone. So, go." • Neo-conservative -- but virulently anti-Trump -- commentator Charles Krauthammer said Thursday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions' resignation was "only a matter of time" after President Trump attacked him in the interview with the New York Times. Krauthammer told Chris Wallace on Fox News : "He doesn't want to resign, but I think this limits his tenure. It's only a matter of time. There's a reason Presidents generally don't do that. Every time you look at Jeff Sessions now, in the back of your head, you're going to be looking at that guy and saying: 'He's just been attacked by his own President, the man who appointed him. He has obviously lost the confidence of the President.' You can't really do that, speak of the fact that Trump is unconventional. We knew that, but there's a reason for the conventions. And that is, an underling can't really function 'effectively' in such an environment -- and 'that's what's happened.' " • Another ostensibly conservative -- but seemingly 'sold out to CNN' -- former CIA officer Robert Baer on Friday told CNN's Don Lemon that Attorney General Jeff Sessions' conversations with a Russian ambassador last year on issues central to Donald Trump's presidential campaign were "treasonous and he should resign. All of these leaks from the Kislyak conversations back to Moscow have proven to be right. I think this is just horrendous. Colluding with a foreign power, a hostile foreign power -- it is treasonous....It is not technically indictable. But for a former intelligence officer, [I would say] it is treasonous and he should resign." Baer may be a little over the top, and factually unproven as yet, but it was on CNN afterall. • The Washington Post reported Friday Ambassador Sergey Kislyak told his Moscow supervisors that he and Sessions had "substantive" talks on Trump's positions on Russia and on "US-Russia relations in a Trump administration." Kislyak's telephone conversations were intercepted by US intelligence agencies, the Post reported, and the evidence flew in the face of early assertions by Sessions that he did not meet with any Russians during the campaign. • There have been few public comments from Democrat leaders in Congress. Senator Dianne Feinstein, ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has spoken directly about the Sessions matter, saying he should come before the Committee to explain his position. • • • IS TRUMP SEEKING A NEW ATTORNEY GENERAL? • RUDY GIULIANI as Attorney General? Newsmax published a report on Monday stating that President Trump is considering former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Newsmax was quoting the political news website, Axios, report that cited White House insiders as saying Trump is "so unhappy" with Sessions that he has raised that possibility in "internal conversations." Giuliani, New York City's tough-talking, law-and-order mayor, who became "America's Mayor" because of his leadership in the aftermath of 9/11, was one of Trump's most vocal supporters during the 2016 presidential campaign. But, Axios noted, Giuliani would have "a tough time getting 50 Republicans Senators to vote to confirm him, exactly because of that support -- that is an enormously damning statement directed at the Senate GOP. Axios' Mike Allen said : "He was such an early and ardent Trump backer that he wouldn't be seen as an independent guardian of the department in these tumultuous times." Rudy Giuliani, battle-tested GOP warrior that he is, came to Jeff Sessions' defense Monday, telling CNN the Attorney General made the right choice in recusing himself from the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Giuliani essentially told CNN that he has no intention of taking over as Attorney General. But, note that Giuliani said nothing about how Sessions' recusal had affected his ability as AG to serve the President and Cabinet. • TED CRUZ as Attorney General? If Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigns or is fired by President Trump, some observers say he could be replaced by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. The Washington Post is one of those observers, citing sources close to Trump, including White House officials. According to the WP report, people close to Trump have been discussing various scenarios as the relationship between the President and Attorney General has deteriorated. Cruz was a rival to Trump for the 2016 GOP nomination and appears to be gearing up to challenge Trump again in 2020. Cruz's spokeman didn't comment to the Washington Post, but the WP noted that Senator Cruz previously said he "did not think it was necessary to appoint a Special Counsel," but added that once Robert Mueller was given the job, Cruz called him "an excellent choice." Late Monday night, Senator Cruz himself weighed in, stressing that he was not interested in the job. Cruz said in a statement first reported by NBC News and The Hill : “Jeff Sessions is a friend and a strong conservative. I was proud to vote to confirm Jeff and to vigorously defend his confirmation, and I’m deeply gratified that we have a principled conservative like Jeff Sessions serving as Attorney General. The stories being reported in the media tonight are false. My focus is and will remain on fighting every day to defend 28 million Texans in the US Senate.” • • • A RECESS APPOINTMENT? If President Trump really wants to replace AG Session -- whether Sessions resigns or is fired -- Trump could use August's Senate recess to appoint a temporary replacement not requiring Senate approval before January. Given that Sessions has not yet taken Trump's invitation to resign, saying he is happy in his position and plans to stay, an outright firing by the President could be muted by doing it during the Senate recess to avoid a concentration in Washington of the sure-to-follow Democrat fake outrage and accusations of 'coverup' and 'collusion.' A recess appointment would also give the GOP Senate leadership time to organize their January defense of the new AG appointee. • • • JUST WHAT DID AG SESSIONS DO TO ANGER THE PRESIDENT? CNN's Chris Cillizza wrote that "the only reason Sessions is beleaguered is because the President keeps pummeling him." We can dismiss Cillizza's remark as that of a Progressive media lapdog, meant to drive one more nail in Trump's coffin. BUT, Cillizza is being very cynical, because he knows the story is deeper than that. • What did Jeff Sessions do? • First, he botched his Senate confirmation hearings by forgetting to mention that he had talked with Russian Ambassador Kisylak. He later corrected that by saying under oath to the Senate Judiciary that he had only talked to the Ambassador because of Senate duties and not as a Trump campaign advisor. In the meantime, he had also recused himself from being involved in anything as Attorney General that was connected to the Russian probes -- he did that without even informing the President, never mind discussing the move with him or White House lawyers before reaching his overly sensitive decision to recuse himself. Read again that comment at the head of this blog : "Lesson to all 'R's, never ever, NEVER EVER, cave to Democrat demands without legal requirement. It's war and it's for warriors, not boy scouts." Jeff Sessions violated Rule #1 about being Attorney General -- he is the President's lawyer and should keep him fully informed about administrative matters. UNLESS -- unless -- the Washington Post revelation that Sessions talked to Kisylak about Trump campaign matters and US-Russian relations after Trump's inauguration is true AND Sessions knew all along that he had talked about those matters. That would make his recusal a self-defense decision, with his deciding that it would be better not to talk ot the President and have to reveal the details of conversations that were at best ill-advised. • But, what most analysts forget about Jeff Sessions is that he is a 6-term Senator. He is a Washington political animal of the highest order. He is used to an environment where fudging the truth and wriggling around personally dangerous issues are the norms. He is, although certainly not a Swamp Creature, surely a past master at Swamp Survival 101. That means that he probably tried to wriggle this time, and it didn't work. Most commentators are now sympathetic to Sessions, not Trump, accusing Trump of 'betraying' his first Senate endorser. But, go back ot that 6-term Senator fact. What did Sessions carve out for himself during those 30+ years? Respect. Not much lese. So, we may assume that he latched on to candidate Trump in the hope of finding a better political future -- a legacy, as it were, to cement his Senate career. Of course, candidate Trump was pleased to have Senator Sessions' endorsement. But, Trump didn't 'need' it because, as he understood so well, his supporters were not from the Washington Swamp or the Senate. So, we might have a little less sympathy for a man who has finally not helped Trump, but driven the Russia 'collusion' charges a notch forward. • Second, AG Sessions has produced little since taking over the Department of Justice. Trump was right last week to tweet : "So why aren’t the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered AG, looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?” Why, indeed. We have no way of knowing what is actually being teed-up at DOJ under Sessions, but looking in from the outside, it appears that Sessions is doing what a "by-the-books" lawyer would do if thrust into the AG job, working of law enforcement, immigration, and all the other routine items that he could easily pass on the his deputies -- to give Sessions his due, those deputies are still mostly Deep State Obama appointees who are trying to destroy Trump by leaks about Russia and stonewalling his legal agenda. But, Rush Limbaugh was the only commentator to get it right : "Sessions is a by-the-book Attorney General, a by-the-book legal mind." And, believe me, that is exactly what President Trump does not need. • • • WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL? While everyone expects an Attorney General to be the leader of the DOJ, the AG is appointed with the consent of the Senate to be the President's and his Cabinet's lawyer. The US Constitution does not provide for an Attorney General. The First Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789 which, besides other things, established the Office of the Attorney General. The original duties of this officer were "to prosecute and conduct all suits in the Supreme Court in which the United States shall be concerned, and to give his advice and opinion upon questions of law when required by the President of the United States, or when requested by the heads of any of the departments." The position of Attorney General was codified and appears in 28 U.S. Code § 503 : "The President shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, an Attorney General of the United States. The Attorney General is the head of the Department of Justice." • Pretty bland stuff -- with no mention of the current Progressive Democrat buzz words "independent guardian of the DOJ" that are aimed at reducing the legitimate control the US President has over the Department of Justice and the Attorney General. • • • DEAR READERS, Attorney General Sessions should have been more thoughtful before he recused himself from the major issue facing the President who appointed him to be his top lawyer. There is little doubt that thus far the ProgDem cries of "Trump Russia collusion" are fake, and they have been from the moment Obama's national security team began illegally intercepting the Trump team electronic communications. Sessions has to appreciate that there was and is No Evidence. He should have weighed that against his sensibility to DOJ guidelines about recusal. He should have asked for legal advice, if not from White House lawyers, then from other legal counsel. And, in any case, Sessions should have consulted with his only client, President Trump, the Chief Executive of the United States, before making any decision about recusal. It was grossly unfair to the President who entrusted Sessions to lead the DOJ at a crucial time in America's history. • There are two kinds of lawyers. Most are the Limbaugh type -- "a by-the-book lawyer with a by-the-book legal mind." That describes most lawyers, and they do yeoman work in keeping the wheels of American courts and regulatory agencies running smoothly. But, there are also those rare lawyers who have exceptional legal minds and grasp legal issues in a vastly more sophisticated, intellectual and creative way. Think of Justice Antonin Scalia as Attorney General. There is no doubt that he would not have gone quietly before the barrage of Progressive Democrat calls for his recusal until he had had the intellectual legal battle about what recusal means constitutionally and why it would have been an acceptable or bad solution to the "Sessions question" as it relates to the unproven claims of Trump-Russia collusion. Sadly, there are not many Antonin Scalias ever, let alone several in any generation of lawyers. So, Attorney General Sessions took the yellow brick road to safety, probably hoping he would be saved from having to decide later about recusal in what might be an even more nuanced and hostile environment. • And, if we consider the names of Giuliani and Cruz that are being brandished about by the MSM without any confirmation from the White House -- except that on Tuesday, the President said he would decide about Sessions "soon" -- we can draw some conclusions about suitability and about style, in the best sense of that term. Senator Ted Cruz is a seasoned orator and trial counsel, who has an immense understanding of constitutional law and has often been compared to Scalia for his grasp of constitutional issues. But, he shirked from the down-and-dirty political tactics that characterized the 2016 compaign. Rudy Giuliani is a hands-on prosecutor who wins cases and uses the Constitution tactically for the most part. He understands the Department of Justice as an insider, something Ted Cruz cannot do because Cruz has never served in the DOJ. • But, both Giuliani and Cruz are demurring when the Attorney General job is mentioned. Why? Giuliani has a lucrative business that would have to be terminated if he became AG. Cruz is gunning for the presidency in 2020. And, they are both "political billionaires," without fear of or need to acquiesce in President Trump's job choices for them. They have 'political billions' to put on the table beside Trump's 'business billions' and title of President. If he really wants either of them for AG, he will have to court them, make a deal with them, give them free range to do what is needed at DOJ, support their decisions, and trust that at the end of the day, whatever they do would be for his advantage. President Trump would undoubtedly trust Giuliani in that position of power more than he would trust Cruz, who is a rival. • But, there are other possible choices. Nobody is talking about Chris Christie, but he brings all that Giuliani would to the AG job, except for the "America's Mayor' acclaim. There is also Michael Mukasey, the Bush AG who served as a federal judge for 20 years prior to his appointment as AG. Mukasey has a reputation for being a conservative straight shooter who respects the rule of law above all. An outside choice would be Ken Paxton, the AG of Texas, who brings Tea Party conservative credentials, and has the right conservative position on any issue anyone could name -- and he comes from the state that has led in fighting in federal court the unconstitutional orders and regulations of President Obama and his administration. • Newt Gingrich, a frequent Trump advisor, said that the President, with his criticism of Sessions, was simply venting and being "honest about his feelings. But that doesn't mean he's going to do anything," according to Gingrich. Still, he said the President's comments would have repercussions when it comes to staff morale. And, even if President Trump is publicly venting about the slow progress of his DOJ and the obvious kid-gloves treatment the Clintons and all Democrats have received at the DOJ for the past 8 years, it does not mean he will actually fire Sessions. But, as always, Newt had a bit of advice for President Trump : "Anybody who is good at team building would suggest to the President that attacking members of your team rattles the whole team." So, Mr. President, kiss and make up with Jeff Sessions, or cut the cord swiftly and move on. This indecision and public job performance evaluation of the Attorney General is not good for the Justice Department, or for you, or for America.