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* Attorney General Jeff Sessions is leaving the Trump administration after more than a year of public criticism from his boss, President Donald Trump.
* Trump has repeatedly hammered Sessions for his decision last year to recuse himself from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.
* Sessions’s chief of staff Matthew Whitaker will serve as acting attorney general, Trump announced. Whitaker also will assume oversight of the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and possible collusion by Trump’s campaign in that meddling.
Embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigned at the “request” of President Donald Trump on Wednesday after more than a year of public criticism from the president.
Sessions’s chief of staff Matthew Whitaker will serve as acting attorney general, Trump announced.
Whitaker also will assume oversight of the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and possible collusion by Trump’s campaign in that meddling, according to the Justice Department.
Whitaker, who has publicly criticized the Mueller investigation, by law can serve as acting AG for a maximum of 210 days.
WNU Editor: There will be more Republican Senators in the next Congress, and because of that I do not see any problems arising in the confirmation process when President Trump makes his decision on who he will appoint to head the Justice Department. As for the firing. I am not surprised, I am just surprised that it took this long.
More News On The Resignation Of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions
Nearly a year before Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired senior FBI official Andrew McCabe for what Sessions called a "lack of candor," McCabe oversaw a federal criminal investigation into whether Sessions lacked candor when testifying before Congress about contacts with Russian operatives, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly accused Sessions of misleading them in congressional testimony and called on federal authorities to investigate, but McCabe's previously-unreported decision to actually put the attorney general in the crosshairs of an FBI probe was an exceptional move.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, pictured Nov. 2 while speaking about national security in New York, faces some tough questions from House Republicans. (Photo: Lucas Jackson/Reuters /Newscom)
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is entertaining the idea of appointing a second special counsel to investigate a host of Republican concerns — including alleged wrongdoing by the Clinton Foundation and the controversial sale of a uranium company to Russia — and has directed senior federal prosecutors to explore at least some of the matters and report back to him and his top deputy, according to a letter obtained by The Washington Post.
The revelation came in a response by the Justice Department to an inquiry from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who in July and again in September called for Sessions to appoint a second special counsel to investigate concerns he had related to the 2016 election and its aftermath.
WNU Editor: Will Attorney General Jeff Sessions appoint a second special counsel? I guess he will be asked this question (and many others) later today .... Attorney General Sessions to testify on Russia before House committee (PBS). As to what is my take on a Special counsel for the Clintons and former FBI Director Comey .... as I had mentioned when the Mueller Counsel was established .... show me one statute that has been violated. I guess that is why the Mueller Counsel is focused on trying to catch people on a process crime (not telling the truth), or not declaring income earned from abroad ... there is nothing else there. If a special counsel is appointed for the Clintons .... I would not be surprised if the same legal approach is taken .... because aside from the enormous money that people paid and/or donated to them, I do not see a crime that has been committed. But unlike the Mueller counsel that needs to overturn every rock to look for irregularities and potential crimes .... the Clintons have a long history, and my gut is telling me that if the same hard-core energy that the Mueller Counsel is now applying to its investigation be applied in the same manner by another special counsel to the Clintons .... maybe nothing illegal will be found, but I am sure there are going to some interesting (and very troubling) revelations. Bottom line .... this is not the 1990s anymore .... the political and social culture has changed, and politicians (former and current) are not popular figures for most Americans. There are questions that many Americans want answers to .... from those who believe that Trump worked with the Russians to win the election, to those who believe that the Clintons used their political clout to enrich themselves personally. If these special counsels can answer some of these questions .... so be it.
More News On Reports That Attorney General Jeff Sessions Is Considering The Appointment Of A Second Special Counsel To Probe The Clintons And Former FBI Director Comey
U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is sworn in to testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing to become U.S. attorney general on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. January 10, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
Russia’s ambassador to Washington told his superiors in Moscow that he discussed campaign-related matters, including policy issues important to Moscow, with Jeff Sessions during the 2016 presidential race, contrary to public assertions by the embattled attorney general, according to current and former U.S. officials.
Ambassador Sergey Kislyak’s accounts of two conversations with Sessions — then a top foreign policy adviser to Republican candidate Donald Trump — were intercepted by U.S. spy agencies, which monitor the communications of senior Russian officials both in the United States and in Russia. Sessions initially failed to disclose his contacts with Kislyak and then said that the meetings were not about the Trump campaign.
One U.S. official said that Sessions — who testified that he has no recollection of an April encounter — has provided “misleading” statements that are “contradicted by other evidence.” A former official said that the intelligence indicates that Sessions and Kislyak had “substantive” discussions on matters including Trump’s positions on Russia-related issues and prospects for U.S.-Russia relations in a Trump administration.
WNU Editor: I love these late Friday afternoon bombshell news reports on an intelligence leak from an anonymous source. But what is interesting about this one is that it comes on the heels of President Trump hinting that he wants Attorney General Sessions gone .... US Attorney General Session Has No Intention Of Resigning After President Trump's Criticism (July 20, 2017). If I was someone who believes in conspiracies .... I would say there is a link. But I am sceptical that the White House is sophisticated enough to pull such a stunt .... especially a day after President Trump's criticisms of Jeff Sessions. Most likely this story is bogus .... one of many that the Washington Post has made in the past few months. But if it is true .... the intel community is still leaking top secret information .... and Attorney General Sessions will be under a lot of pressure to resign .... which is beyond weird because he was mandated to stop these leaks and to bring these rogue elements to justice.
Attorney general speaks after Donald Trump’s comments that he would not have hired Sessions had he known he would recuse himself from Russia inquiry
The US attorney general, Jeff Sessions, said on Thursday that he would continue in his job “as long as that is appropriate”, despite Donald Trump’s barrage of criticism of him.
Trump had told the New York Times in an interview published late Wednesday about his regrets in appointing Sessions as attorney general.
At the center of Trump’s attack was Sessions, the former senator from Alabama who was forced to step aside from the investigation into possible Russian collusion with the Trump campaign in March after meetings he had failed to disclose with the Russian ambassador came to light.
WNU Editor: From my perspective .... after hearing President Trump's remarks on US Attorney General Sessions in yesterday's NYT's interview .... it is clear to me that he wants his Attorney General to resign to resign. In turn .... it is obvious that US Attorney General Sessions has no intention of resigning.
More News On U.S. Attorney General Sessions' Remarks After President Trump's Criticism
Attorney General Jeff Sessions offered an indignant defense on Tuesday against what he called “an appalling and detestable lie” that he may have colluded with the Russian effort to interfere in the 2016 election, showcasing his loyalty to President Trump in an often contentious Senate hearing but declining to answer central questions about his or the president’s conduct.
Sounding by turns defiant and wounded, Mr. Sessions, a former senator from Alabama, often infused his testimony with more emotion than specifics. He insisted repeatedly that it would be “inappropriate” to discuss his private conversations with the president, however relevant they might be, visibly frustrating senators who have been conducting their own inquiry into Russia’s election meddling.
WNU editor: Another typical day in Washington. Those who oppose President Trump are not happy with Attorney General Sessions testimony .... those who support President Trump praised it. What's my take .... when former FBI Director Comey admitted that President Trump was not under investigation .... thereby verifying the tweet that President Trump had posted weeks before .... the end result was the death of the media narrative that Trump colluded with the Russians. Seven months of non-stop Trump - Russia stories .... and all of it ending with a whimper. So what is left for Special Counsel Mueller to investigate .... not much. Thanks to all of the leaks that we have been exposed to over the months and that have been chronicled by this blog .... the ones who are being investigated are Cater Page, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, and Jared Kushner. Cater Page, Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn are not in the administration .... so is Jared Kushner enough to justify a Special Counsel .... I do not think so. My prediction .... the media narrative is going to change, and we saw it today during Attorney General Jeff Sessions's testimony. The focus is now going to be on "obstruction of justice" .... and not telling Congress details behind the firing of FBI Director Comey. Special Counsel Mueller will be carrying the water on this one, and the hope will be that he will find something .... anything .... that can be brought to trial. As for the Russia hacking story .... it will continue. Russia, China, North Korea, Israel .... the entire world is trying to hack the computer networks of other nations .... it is a story that deserves to be followed and I expect the news coverage will remain the same. As for the Trump-Russia collusion story .... after following this story non-stop since last year, I am starting to notice that the main stream media is not as focused as they use to be. What may change everything is if "hard evidence" of crimes are found and presented .... but as I have said more than once in the past few months .... wishing and hoping for something is not evidence .... and no evidence of crimes have so far been revealed.
More News On Attorney General Jeff Sessions' Senate Testimony
* Move comes amid uproar over meetings with Russian ambassador
* Trump said he still has ‘total’ confidence in Sessions
Attorney General Jeff Sessions removed himself from investigations into Russian interference in American politics and contacts with associates of President Donald Trump, after the Justice Department acknowledged he had contacts with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 campaign.
“I have decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for president of the United States,” Sessions said Thursday in a written statement as he opened a press conference in Washington.
The move comes after the Justice Department confirmed Wednesday that Sessions spoke twice last year with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak while serving as a prominent supporter and adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign. Sessions testified during his Senate confirmation hearing Jan. 10 that “I did not have communications with the Russians.”
WNU Editor: I guess Attorney General Jeff Sessions decided to not do what President Obama's Attorney General Lynch decided to do when it came to her recusal (which she did not do) on cases where concerns on her biases were voiced. And while I am sure that there are many in the Trump administration who are now hoping that this story is dead .... my take is that it is just starting.
Then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) spoke twice last year with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Justice Department officials said, encounters he did not disclose when asked about possible contacts between members of President Trump’s campaign and representatives of Moscow during Sessions’s confirmation hearing to become attorney general.
One of the meetings was a private conversation between Sessions and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that took place in September in the senator’s office, at the height of what U.S. intelligence officials say was a Russian cyber campaign to upend the U.S. presidential race.
WNU Editor: There are a lot of things that President Trumps' opponents can go after .... but this one is not it. Attorney General Sessions met the Russian Ambassador at a Heritage event .... he also met about 50 other ambassadors at this event. This is normal procedure. When I was a diplomat (albeit a minor one) .... part of my job description was to meet everyone .... and I did ... including literally the entire U.S. diplomatic corp in China in the 1980s .... and all we talked about was the weather, families, and living in China. As for this media and political attention on Attorney General Sessions meeting the Russian Ambassador thereby contradicting his Senate testimony .... I listened to the whole thing in his Q&A with Senator Franken (see above video) .... the question and answer was pertaining to a former British intelligence official's claim that the Kremlin had incriminating information on Donald Trump (prostitutes and golden showers) .... and Sessions was clearly focused on answering the question in its proper context .... no political-campaign discussions were made. Should Sessions have made his answer clearer .... maybe. Is this perjury .... not even close. Is this going to become a political and media spectacle .... definitely. Will this hurt the President .... no. And as for media and Democrats now making calls to have a massive investigation .... I say investigate what ..... reported allegations where no one has provided any proof?!?!?! Even President Obama does not understand why there is so much attention on this story as he said in this December interview .... Barack Obama tells The Daily Show's Trevor Noah that Russian hacking was no 'big surprise'(The Telegraph).
.... Mr Obama said Russian involvement in the hacking was no "big surprise" and that the real question should be how did "fairly routine" hacked emails receive more attention than any policy and become the "overwhelming story and constant source of breathless coverage."
And he (President Obama) is correct .... the Russians (and the former Soviet Union) have always tried to influence elections. But the idea that the Russians hacked last year's November election that resulted in Donald Trump becoming President .... saying that this is bizarre and preposterous will be a polite choice of words.
So why the fuss ... especially today .... IMHO it all involves de-ligitimizing President Trump's election victory .... doubly so after his successful speech to Congress this Tuesday which shocked many of his opponents. As I had mentioned more than once since the election .... Washington is in panic mode .... because they know that President Trump is determined to dismantle the role and power that Washington has accumulated over the past few decades. And their response has been typical and predictable ..... smear, attack, block, and condemn .... and doing things like this ....Obama officials raced to spread and preserve communications between Trump associates and Russians(Daily Mail). And the reason why for this anti-Trump strategy is simple .... they have nothing else. They do not have the numbers in the House or Senate to stop President Trump. They cannot stop his legislation. They cannot stop his Supreme Court pick(s). They cannot stop anything. So .... allegations and accusations is what they have .... and calls for an investigation ..... because they have no evidence. If I may repeat what I have said multiple times .... after a year of this story making the rounds .... there are still NO links or evidence of Trump officials talking with Russian officials on matters directly pertaining to the Presidential election .... all that I have heard are anonymous sources hinting of allegations that need to be investigated. This reminds me of McCarthyism in its ugliest form .... smearing good and honourable people over allegations and innuendo ... sighhh .... and here is an easy prediction .... this smearing of President Trump's closest confidants with allegations and innuendo is only going to intensify.
President Trump's Attorney General Sessions "Under Fire" For Not Disclosing That He Met The Russian Ambassador During the Election Campaign
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