Tag: Attorney General Sessions

Sessions out at Justice Department

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has resigned as the top Justice Department official at President Trump’s request, a development that is likely to spark a firestorm of criticism following the midterm elections.

The decision punctuates months of criticism by President Trump of his top law enforcement officer over his recusal from the ongoing Russia investigation. And it confirms widespread speculation that Trump would move to fire Sessions sometime after the midterms.

Sessions agreed to resign at Trump’s request, according to a copy of his resignation letter obtained by The Hill.

View the complete November 7 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Southern Republican senators reject Trump’s criticism of Sessions

The following article by Gabriel Pogrund was posted on the Washington Post website September 4, 2018:

President Trump and Bob Woodward discuss Woodward’s new book, “Fear,” before its publication. (The Washington Post)

Southern Republican senators defended Jeff Sessions after an explosive new book by Bob Woodward recounted how President Trump called his attorney general a “dumb Southerner” and mocked his accent.

In the forthcoming chronicle of Trump’s White House, “Fear,” Woodward writes that the president privately called Sessions a “traitor,” saying: “This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner . . . He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.”

The remarks are said to have come during a conversation between Trump and his former staff secretary, Rob Porter, about Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from the Russian investigation. They represent the most withering insults the president has directed at his attorney general in months of largely one-sided sniping.

View the complete article here.

‘Two easy wins now in doubt’: Trump renews attack on Sessions

The following article by Josh Dawsey was posted on the Washington Post website September 3, 2018:

Credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Associated Press

President Trump attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Justice Department on Monday in connection with the indictments of two GOP congressmen on corruption charges, saying they could hurt the Republican Party in the midterm elections.

“Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department,” he said on Twitter. “Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time.”

“Good job Jeff……” he added, in a sarcastic comment. Calling the agency the “Jeff Sessions Justice Department” is the president’s ultimate insult, Trump advisers say.

View the complete article here.

Donald Trump’s approval rating sinks to lowest of his presidency

The following article by Joanna Walters was posted on the Guardian website August 31, 2018:

New survey shows first time the national displeasure rating has exceeded 50%, and a majority of support for Mueller’s Russia investigation

Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Indiana. Credit: Mandel Ngan, AFP, Getty Images

Donald Trump has slumped to the lowest approval rating of his presidency, with 60% disapproving of his performance as the US president, according to a new national survey.

The figure includes 53% who say they disapprove strongly of his performance in the White House, the first time the national displeasure rating has exceeded 50%, according to a new ABC/Washington Post poll published on Friday morning.

The poll also found that a majority support the special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and think Trump should not fire the attorney general, Jeff Sessions.

View the complete article here.

Trump personally lobbying GOP senators to flip on Sessions

The following article by Eliana Johnson and Elana Schor was posted on the Politico.com website August 29, 2018:

Opposition to the attorney general’s firing, long seen as a red line by lawmakers, has softened in recent days.

The president, who has spent a year and a half fulminating against his attorney general in public, finally got traction on Capitol Hill thanks to the growing frustration of a handful of GOP senators with their former colleague, Jeff Sessions. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The willingness of Republican senators to turn on Attorney General Jeff Sessions is the result of a furious lobbying campaign from President Donald Trump, who for the past 10 days has been venting his anger at Sessions to “any senator who will listen,” as one GOP Senate aide put it.

The president, who has spent a year and a half fulminating against his attorney general in public, finally got traction on Capitol Hill thanks to the growing frustration of a handful of GOP senators with their former colleague – most importantly, Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, who have been irritated by Sessions’ opposition to a criminal justice reform bill they support, according to interviews with more than a half-dozen congressional GOP aides, Trump advisers, and Republicans close to the White House. Continue reading “Trump personally lobbying GOP senators to flip on Sessions”

Want to Know More About: Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Alisyn Camerota: “The President Has Been Lobbying Senators To Get Them Comfortable It Sounds Like Or To Get Them On His Side If He’s Going To Fire Jeff Sessions, The Attorney General.” ALISYN CAMEROTA: “Somebody else monitoring Twitter to see if he still has a job each morning is attorney general Jeff Sessions. We assume he wakes up as well and checks the Twitter feed. We know from new reporting that the president has been lobbying senators to get them comfortable it sounds like or to get them on his side if he’s going to fire Jeff sessions, the attorney general.” [New Day, CNN, 8/30/18; Video]

Jeffery Toobin: “This Has Enormous Significance Because If Jeff Sessions Is Replaced By Someone Who Won’t Have A Conflict Of Interest Regarding The Mueller Investigation, This Person Will Take Over From Rod Rosenstein As The Supervisor And Potential Firer Of Robert Muller.” JEFFERY TOOBIN: “Of course, this has enormous significance because if Jeff Sessions is replaced by someone who won’t have a conflict of interest regarding the Mueller investigation, this person will take over from Rod Rosenstein as the supervisor and potential firer of Robert Muller.” [New Day, CNN, 8/30/18; Video]

Trump privately revived the idea of firing Sessions this month, according to people familiar with the discussions

The following article by Carol D. Leonnig, Josh Dawsey and Gabriel Pogrund was posted on the Washington Post website August 28, 2018:

President Trump once again attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Sessions hit back by saying the Justice Department will not be politically influenced. (Reuters)

President Trump, who levied extraordinary public attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions in recent weeks, has privately revived the idea of firing him in conversations with his aides and personal lawyers this month, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

His attorneys concluded that they have persuaded him — for now — not to make such a move while the special-counsel investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign is ongoing, the people said.

But there is growing evidence that Senate Republicans, who have long cautioned Trump against firing Sessions, are now resigned to the prospect that he may do so after the November midterm elections — a sign that one of the last remaining walls of opposition to such a move is crumbling.

View the complete article here.

Ben Sasse, Susan Collins Warn Trump About Firing Jeff Sessions

The following article by Niels Lesniewski was posted on the Roll Call website August 23, 2018:

Sen. Ben Sasse said he couldn’t envision voting for a new attorney general if Jeff Sessions is fired for doing his job. Credit: Bill Clark, CQ Roll Call file photo

Republican senators grew increasingly vocal in their warnings to President Donald Trump if he fires Attorney General Jeff Sessions, including threats not to vote for a replacement.

Sen. Ben Sasse came to the floor Thursday afternoon to read into the Congressional Record the statement that Sessions, a former Alabama senator well-liked by his former colleagues, issued in response to criticism from Trump.

Sessions was highlighting the independence of the Justice Department, and Sasse, a Nebraska Republican, wanted it to be perfectly clear that he would have the attorney general’s back.

Fuming Trump Has Told Advisers He Wants Jeff Sessions to Have Omarosa Arrested: Report

The following article by Elizabeth Pena was posted on the AlterNet.org website August 16, 2018:

Fuming Trump Has Told Advisers He Wants Jeff Sessions to Have Omarosa Arrested: Report

Credit: AP Photo, Steve Helber

Donald Trump has told advisers he wants his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to have his former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman arrested, Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman reports.

According to Sherman, despite receiving advice from aides and his wife Melania Trump to “just ignore” Manigault Newman’s book tour, Trump has opted instead to attack and insult his former “Apprentice” co-star and confidante.

Though it’s unclear which law the president believes Manigault Newman broke, a former West Wing official told Sherman that Trump’s reaction is likely rooted in what he sees as “a personal betrayal.”

View the complete article here.

Trump slams Sessions as “scared stiff”

The following article was posted on the Axios.com website August 11, 2018:

President Trump on Saturday blasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions for being “scared stiff and Missing in Action” in a tweet series questioning if there will be an Inspector General report about the Steele dossier, Steele’s meetings with former Deputy Attorney General, Bruce Ohr and Ohr’s wife, Nellie Ohr.

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

….Do you believe Nelly worked for Fusion and her husband STILL WORKS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF “JUSTICE.” I have never seen anything so Rigged in my life. Our A.G. is scared stiff and Missing in Action. It is all starting to be revealed – not pretty. IG Report soon? Witch Hunt!

Twitter Ads info and privacy

Behind the scenes: Sessions doesn’t use Twitter and has no TV in his office. Sources who work for him tell Axios’ Jonathan Swan he tries as best he can to tune out Trump’s attacks. They seemed to genuinely bother him at first but over time aides said it appeared he’d grown desensitized to them. If Sessions has thought again about resigning — early on he wrote a resignation letter for Trump and it was rejected — he’s kept very close-lipped about it.

View the post here.