Wanted: Attorney General
When I first heard President Trump’s harsh and very public criticisms of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, I must admit I was taken aback. After all, Senator Sessions was an ardent Trump supporter. In fact he was the FIRST Senator to openly support Mr. Trump during the campaign. In addition he is a dyed-in-the-wool small government, pro-family, pro-second amendment conservative. He also is a man of high moral character with an impeccable reputation. How could Mr. Trump disregard all of these virtues? How could he ignore such loyalty? In short, how could President Trump turn on him?
The answer, unfortunately, is that Mr. Sessions was not doing his job. And, President Trump sorely NEEDS him to do just that.
The purview of an attorney general, especially in the new millennia, is not merely to prosecute the perpetrators of federal crimes. Increasingly, the Attorney General is a key player in the implementation of the President’s agenda.
Obama had very partisan attorney generals, first in Eric Holder, and then later in Loretta Lynch. Both of these individuals “weaponized” their position and were very effective warriors for their boss. They required schools, for example, to enact “gender identity” bathroom policies under Title IX, while NOT enforcing laws they didn’t like (the Defense of Marriage Act). They failed to investigate and prosecute obvious crimes such as Ms. Clinton’s obstruction of justice, bribery, money laundering and the like. They neglected to investigate schemes like the Department of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms’ “fast and furious” gun running program that the Obama administration was obviously involved in. In short, they were able “warriors” for Mr. Obama and his agenda. And, as a consequence, Obama and his minions were able to operate unfettered for eight terrible years.
Mr. Sessions has not been able to do the same for President Trump. He’s allowed himself to be hamstrung in relationship to the two most dangerous challenges facing our President.
First Mr. Sessions pledged to recuse himself on any and all matters involving alleged collusion between the Trump Campaign and Russia. There were NO grounds for anyone to require that he do so. Although Mr. Sessions enthusiastically supported Mr. Trump’s presidential aspirations, he was not a member of the campaign either formally or informally. By recusing himself unnecessarily he then left the door open for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to appoint Robert Mueller as a special prosecutor. Not only is Mr. Mueller a close FRIEND of outgoing FBI Director James Comey (an OBVIOUS PERSONAL BIAS), he promptly hired a cabal of attorneys, many of whom were significant Clinton campaign donors (an OBVIOUS CONFLICT OF INTEREST). One attorney, Jeannie Rhee, is an attorney for the CLINTON FOUNDATION! Another, Andrew Weisssman, was the lead prosecutor of Enron’s Jeffrey Skilling, who’s conviction of Skilling was subsequently THROWN OUT by the Supreme Court on June 24, 2010, for PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT. It’s rumored that, having found NOTHING in regard to Trump/Russia collusion, Mueller is now investigating everything and anything Trump, whether or not it has ANYTHING to do with Russia. This is unfair and outrageous. And it all could have been avoided had Mr. Sessions not recused himself.
Second, Mr. Sessions also acquiesced on investigating the Clintons. Although it is true that, prior to Inaguration Day, a consensus had emerged to drop the Hillary Clinton obstruction of justice issue (her email deletions), a position shared by Mr. Trump as well as Mr. Sessions, there’s been so much MORE nefarious Clinton activity that has come to light since. Much of it positively CRIES out for investigation and prosecution. There’s the Clinton/Lynch airplane meeting. The Russia uranium deal. The Clinton Foundation quid pro quos. And others. “LORDY!” (in the immortal words of James Comey) this pervasive criminality SHOULD NOT AND MUST NOT BE IGNORED!
Lastly, there’s the massive quantity of highly illegal LEAKS to the press by leftover Obama loyalists (including, by HIS OWN ADMISSION, leaks by James Comey). Where has Mr. Sessions been on this? The list of people who had access to the leaked material is NOT large. Why weren’t they tracked down? Where are the subpoenas? Where is the testimony under oath? In short, where is the INVESTIGATION?
All of these matters require an activist Attorney General. And Mr. Trump absolutely needs an activist Attorney General. AMERICA needs an activist Attorney General. Since it is becoming increasingly apparent that Mr. Sessions will not be able to fulfill this roll, he should take the next logical, moral and ethical step and recuse himself from EVERYTHING. And, accordingly, should tender his resignation. Mr. Trump should then, with heartfelt sadness, but also with sincere gratitude, should accept the resignation and move forward.
Several of the points I’ve argued above were made by Mr. Dick Morris, in an excellent video blog. His “alligator with two teeth” analogy is both amusing and spot on. The interested reader can view it at: