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Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Jeff Sessions Places Second, Forces Runoff

President Trump had something to say about the Republican primary for US Senator:

This is what happens to someone who loyally gets appointed Attorney General of the United States & then doesn’t have the wisdom or courage to stare down & end the phony Russia Witch Hunt. Recuses himself on FIRST DAY in office, and the Mueller Scam begins! 
https://t.co/2jGnRgOS6h— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020

My supposition has always been that Sessions did a corrupt deal with Chuck Schumer according to which, in exchange for a narrow confirmation as AG, Sessions would recuse from all things Russia Hoax. Rod Rosenstein was enthusiastically confirmed as DAG, 94–6. Just for the record, here are the Nay voters, those who voted against Rosenstein:

Blumenthal (D-CT)
Booker (D-NJ)
Cortez Masto (D-NV)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Harris (D-CA)
Warren (D-MA)

Overall, the Dems had faith In RR.

I've heard "conservatives" express sympathy for Sessions, because of Trump's harsh public criticisms. For the record, I have no such sympathy and regard Session's actions--failing to inform Trump of his clearly premeditated recusal--as a selfish betrayal of Trump and of the national interest of the American people.

15 comments:

  1. I understand the no sympathy position. And I agree with it, but for different reasons.

    Sessions was a Trump supporter, so it is not reasonable to infer a corrupt bargain between him and Schumer.

    Don't ascribe to malice that which can reasonably be explained as incompetence, right?

    I agree with the view that Sessions saw the AG post as a sunset position or a feather in his cap. He was woefully unprepared, just like all GOPe, for the warfare that would be unleashed by the Dems.

    Unprepared might be too generous, for many of the GOPe seem to prefer being in the minority so they can safely criticize while enjoying the perks of office and shirking the responsibilities and challenges of real governance.

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    1. For any GOPe and any Republican to not expect the worst from Democrats is truly on them.

      When W made the Medicaid drug deal with with Ted Kennedy, Ted shortly, I think the very next day, knifed W in thr back denigrating W.

      On and on it goes.

      Democrat history.

      Slavery as an official party platform. When after the compromises on slave states was deemed doomed, the tore apart the US with the Civil War. For about 100 years after the Civil War Democrats nullified the Constitution with Segregation.

      At some point you have to admit the party of Thomas Jefferson is toxic and anti-American .

      No amount of naivety justifies Republican actions and deals with Democrats.

      This is from someone who fully believes Republicans mostly are Democrat lites.

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  2. I have no sympathy either. I don't think Sessions made a deal with Schumer, he just got rolled by the Obama holdovers in his own department.

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  3. Trump is totally correct and Sessions deserves not an ounce of sympathy.

    Sessions, along with Cruz, stopped the government, well as much as you can, over Obamacare. Sessions took heat over this even within the GOP. That was standing up for what you believe in on policy differences.

    Well, when it came to criminal conduct by the federal government, interference in a presidential campaign by our federal government, clear violations of civil rights by our government, and, worse, enabling a bloodless coup of a duly elected sitting President, Sessions was AWOL!

    Even if you do not think the AG of the US should not be the President's "wingman", the AG should be stopping and prosecuting those within the federal government who committed these heinous acts which are an affront to the Constitution, the law, and the dignity of the United States.

    But ... he refused.

    If it can be proved he made a deal, "quid pro quo" as the meme goes, then let him be a target of the powers of government that he refused to stop.

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  4. I have some sympathy for Sessions--I'm someone who actually lacks sympathetic feelings--but he made two bad decisions. He took the AG post for which he was ill-suited and ill-prepared (given the opposition and "resistance"), and then recused himself from the responsibility of office due to "heat," confirming his unsuitability--thus jeopardizing Trump's presidency. His loyalty turns out to be more of a pose than purposeful.

    These might be adequate character traits in the Senate, but a disaster as a cabinet secretary in the executive branch.

    I'm sure he's a nice man, knowledgeable and experienced--but there's a point in adulthood where self-knowledge is paramount, and knowing your strengths and competencies in whatever the venture is the key to success. The office of AG is not an honorarium--and it is certainly not the Senate.

    "Some sympathy" actually amounts to very little.

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  5. @Mark
    @Tex

    I'm with you guys. There are no accidents.

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  6. President Trump has publicly criticized Jeff Sessons and Robert Mueller, but has not (that I remember) criticized Rod Rosenstein, who surely was a top villain in RussiaGate.

    Trump has even spoken well about Rosenstein.

    Therefore I think that Rosenstein eventually became a devastating traitor against the cabal.

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    1. Mike, I wrote a fairly lengthy comment agreeing with you and it somehow disappeared. In that comment I recalled the event on 10/8/18 when RR flew on AF1 with Trump to Florida, and Trump said what a great relationship they had. This was after Barr wrote his 19 pp. memo to RR and also after the point (Sept.?) when Durham first became involved, but it was two months before Barr was nominated as AG.

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    2. This [Rosenstein's trip with Trump on 10/8/18] was ... after the point (Sept.?) when Durham first became involved

      Did Rosenstein assign Durham to investigate the origin of the RussiaGate hoax? If so, then perhaps Rosenstein provided Durham key insights and information for that investigation.

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    3. Something we'd all like to know.

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  7. Jeff Sessions assumed that the Special Counsel investigation would be professional and non-partisan. He did not foresee that the investigation would be conducted with an intention of framing President Trump on obstruction of justice in order to impeach and remove him from office.

    When that intention did become clear, then Sessions should have denounced Mueller and his gang. However, Sessions continued to act as if the Special Counsel gang deserved respect and deference. The gang deserved public contempt, orchestrated by Sessions.

    =======

    The persecution of Maria Butina -- the Russian graduate student who tried to arrange cooperation between Russia and the USA's National Rifle Association -- cannot be blamed on the Special Counsel gang. That persecution took place entirely under Sessions' jurisdiction. Sessions could have stopped that persecution.

    The NRA was a key supporter of Donald Trump's election campaign, but Attorney General Sessions allowed DOJ/FBI to smear the NRA in this hoax, in which Butina was portrayed as a spy and agent of influence. I blame Sessions for that.

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    1. Even more to justify not sympathizing with Sessions.

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  8. I would not ignore the possibility that Dems BLACKMAILED Sessions with dirt that had on him, in that sense, he's the ideal AG from the DEM POV -- tied to Trump, but recuses himself without a fight and without telling Trump he would need to do so, allowing Deeep State operative RR to a point Mueller, whose purpose we now realize in hindsight was to try to set Trump up for an Obstruction charge, as well as luring him and others from his campaign into process crimes during the investigation.

    (His other purpose, I have suspected from the very start, was to bury the evidence of the Obama Admin criminality as best they could while operating under the veil of secrecy afforded them as a Special Counsel Investigation. This helps explain why he just kept going and going even though they knew there was no Russia Collusion. It took Barr's ascent to AG to close down the Mueller Jihad.)

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  9. I have no sympathy for Sessions and hope that Coach Tommy steamrolls him.

    Off topic point coming.

    Being a Democrat means that you can threaten Supreme Court justices and get away with it.

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