Lawyering, Media, Politics

Trump Continues To Attack Sessions Over His Ethical Recusal

 President Donald Trump has continued his attacks on former Attorney General Jeff Sessions for following the advice of ethics experts in recusing himself from the Russian investigation. I was one of those favoring recusal as the proper decision for Sessions. He waited until the Justice Department experts made that recommendation and then took the proper step of recusal. Taking such ethical advice and removing oneself in the interests of his Department is neither weak nor stupid, as the President suggests. In a prior column, I criticized the sacking of Sessions and this attack only magnifies those concerns.

Trump appeared to take glee from the fact that Sessions failed to secure a majority of votes in Tuesday’s Alabama Senate primary. He is now in a runoff with former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville.

President Trump tweeted: “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!”

I understand the frustration and anger over the origins of the Russian investigation. I was also a critic of that process. However, Sessions did not cause that investigation and did the right thing in recusing himself from an investigation into the Trump campaign. Many experts believed recusal was proper and, even if you disagree with the decision, it is outrageous to attack a man for doing what he believed as ethically required.

64 thoughts on “Trump Continues To Attack Sessions Over His Ethical Recusal”

  1. Sessions’s recusal came at a time when what was needed was an AG with a firm hand, willing and able to set things right in the Justice Dept. The action to be preferred to Sessions’s self-neutering would have been outright resignation. In my view, Trump was slow to pick up on the consequences of having an AG without cojones, and probably should have immediately asked for his resignation.

  2. Another step in the right direction. One more RINO rejected and ejected.

  3. Sessions saw a snarling mad dog bolting for the duly elected leader of the American people while he held the leash. Rather than restrain the beast he let go due to some ethical quandary. It resulted in a three-year fight that hurt the nation. There’s ethics to avoid the appearance of impropriety and there’s duty to the country to avoid fraudulent investigations designed to cripple the ship of state. Sessions honored the wrong virtue.

    2. That snarling mad dog, indeed, got up on Trump’s ample buttocks. He shook it off though by shooting everyone around him as a distraction.

  4. I believe once this chapter in our history is finally written, Sessions will be seen as having made the ethical decision. History won’t be so kind however to the various unethical players working before and after the 2016 election to take down a sitting President. I pray they have an opportunity to read all about it from behind bars.

  5. (music to tune of you ain’t nutton but a hound dog)
    You ain’t nutton but a Dem. Dog!
    Just rocking all the time.
    You ain’t never killed a rabbit and
    You ain’t no friend of mine.

  6. The lesson in this is a cautionary one, to people who can listen. This is a team sport. Rules are important, but the other side does not care about rules.

    There is often a point when outcomes become more important than rules, because outcomes lead to the possibility of rewriting rules. This is reality.

    Nullum crimen sine lege, nulla poena sine lege– this ancient principle of law was raised as a defense at a famous trial. that the charges were for violations of laws which did not exist at the time the offenses were supposedly committed.

    the Prosecution replied: this was called a maxim of justice, but not a limitation on sovereignty, and the offenses were fundamentally the decisions of a sovereign.

    https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/09-30-46.asp

    “Sovereign is he who decides on the exception.” Carl Schmitt

  7. “I think Jeff Sessions engaged in wrongful conduct by not telling the president before he was appointed I’m going to recuse myself. The president would never have appointed him. The president doesn’t want a part-time Attorney General. He should have had a nice conversation. I said I appreciate you recusing yourself but I need a full-time Attorney General,”

    — Alan Dershowitz

  8. Turley says: “I understand the frustration and anger over the ORIGINS of the Russian investigation. I was also a critic of that process.” How about the SUBSTANCE of this investigation? Russians did take insider information obtained by polling and provided by the Trump campaign and used it to attack Hillary Clinton by spreading lies on social media in key precincts that they believed would sway the vote. That is cheating, and should be disqualifying in and of itself. Turley, you know how Trumpsters ignore details, and take what you say as validation that somehow Trump was treated unfairly. The ORIGINS of the Russian investigation did not involve the so-called “Steele dossier”. What about the substance? Dozens of guilty pleas and guilty verdicts were the result. How about Trump’s total lack of cooperation and obstruction of justice, as detailed by Mueller? Do you have a comment on that? Trump prevented Mueller from getting to the truth, and that should bother any patriot.

    Since when does the Attorney General of the United States owe a duty to protect a crook who cheated to get into the White House? The AG works for the American people to enforce our laws, even when the lawbreaker sits in the White House. Sessions was actively involved in the Trump campaign. He had no choice other than to recuse.

    1. How about the SUBSTANCE of this investigation?

      There was no substance, which is why they were running informants trying to generate substance and relying on Fusion GPS. No matter how many four paragraph rants you post, that remains the reality.

      1. I suppose if you say that enough you might convince yourself of it.

        1. Just keep tapping your ruby slippers and reciting one of Diane’s mantras like, “Robert Swann Mueller will not be deterred”.

    2. “That is cheating, and should be disqualifying in and of itself”

      NATCH FINALLY ADMITS SHE WANTS TO DQ THE 2016 ELECTION RESULT

      THANK YOU FOR ADMITTING IT, FINALLY, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS IMPLICIT IN EVERY COMMENT SHE HAS MADE THE PAST 3 YEARS

      i tell you what. you want to dq the result? you and what army?

      1. So, Kurtz, do you want a POTUS who can make the best deal with a foreign country to help them get elected, cheating, lying, doing and saying anything, in exchange for getting into the White House? Then, after getting into office, appoint a puppet AG who will downplay the misconduct and cheating, and judges who’ll see things the POTUS’s way. Then try to gin up a baseless investigation against your opponent by another foreign government in exchange for military aid, lie about it, and refuse to cooperate with investigations, citing “executive privilege? Is that how you want our elections to be handled?

        1. He did no such thing.

          I certainly don’t trust you, Hillary, nor John Brennan to say whether or not an election result is fair or not.

          You spew so much garbage in your posts it’s almost pointless to try and disentangle them and rectify all the misconceptions, exaggerations, and out right lies….. of course that’s the purpose of your trolling, to get people to waste their time trying.

          1. Read the Mueller Report, which is based on witness statements under oath and certified copies of documents. Read the Articles of Impeachment. Forty-eight U.S. Senators found sufficient proof to impeach, even though Republicans blocked witnesses and documents.

            What have I lied about? What have I exaggerated?

            1. Blah blah blah. Everything. You have poor reading comprehension, or you are dishonest, because you have failed to grasp or credit any argument which did not correspond neatly to your predetermined talking points. You are an offensive harridan, an utterly dishonest interlocutor.

              Nothing you say here is sincere except for your utter dislike of Trump.

            2. How about “The ORIGINS of the Russian investigation did not involve the so-called “Steele dossier”?” If you truly believe this in the face of reality, the rest of what you say is totally worthless

            3. Read the Mueller Report,

              Again, uttering incantations does not establish your argument. The FBI and Weissman’s crew had two and a half years to bring cases, and all they brought were indictments on extraneous matters meant to extort perjured testimony and indictments on process crimes manufactured by the investigators themselves. There isn’t any there there, and repeating this incantation doesn’t conjure one, your wishes notwithstanding.

              Mueller testifies in front of Congressional committees with a minder sitting next to him because he hardly knows whether or not he’s coming or going, much less what is in the “Mueller” Report.

              1. They couldn’t get Trump’s cooperation. That’s called obstruction of justice.There are at least 10 instances outlined in the Mueller Report. If he had nothing to hide, he should have cooperated. Does anyone really believe that Trump’s campaign did all of the things to help him without his knowledge?

                Yes, you gullibles who watch Fox and listen to Rush believe anything they say. Why did those who pleaded guilty plea instead of going to trial? Stone went to trial, and could have raised any of the arguments you raise, but was found guilty. These are facts.

                1. They couldn’t get Trump’s cooperation.

                  1. He provided copious documentation.

                  2. He answered written questions. For obvious reasons, he wasn’t going to meet with them personally.

                  You and Gainesville seem to think that if you utter wild falsehoods, a point is established just by uttering it.

      2. What’s wrong with wanting to “DQ” the ’16 election. It was a freak show. Trump lost the popular vote and marched in like he was king. You guys hated Obama and dedicated to taking out Dems with a meager popular vote turnout. Best way to DQ the previous election is to have another one, which OMG, we’re on tap to have later this year. Oh the horror!!!

    3. Natascha wrong again the deplorables elected DJT not the Russians he is our President legitimately get over it

    4. “Russians did take insider information obtained by polling and provided by the Trump campaign and used it to attack Hillary Clinton by spreading lies on social media in key precincts”? Did you really just say that? The Russians didn’t take any information, let alone “obtained by polling.” And it wasn’t the Russians on social media, either – for the most part it was everyday 4chan-ers, the overwhelming majority young males who simply find such blatant lies and corruption absurd. Hillary’s “The Russians Are Coming!” probably generated tens of thousands of memes. It’s still generating memes.

    1. There’s a place for him, but he was in the wrong job.

  10. At this point, no Republican within the Beltway has any logical reason to stay loyal to Donald Trump. Trump has proven, time and time again, that he will turn on anyone.

    By now Professor Turley should grasp how fickle Trump is. Trump is that client who will burn any lawyer.

    1. At this point, no Republican within the Beltway has any logical reason to stay loyal to Donald Trump.

      Bar deference to the 90% of self-identified Republicans who favor the President.

    2. Seth Peter brings it up, throws it out there, so I’ll have to answer it.

      The question is not logic it is emotion. But reason can lead to the same conclusion.

      Fear is the reason.

      WE WILL PUNISH THEM IF THEY BETRAY TRUMP. No “how” to be discussed here; how is always a foreward looking question of circumstances should they arise. Just a general political proposition talking here.

      Trump is fantastically popular in flyover not only among Republicans but certainly most among the people. We won’t forget traitors! They will have to stay the lest of their lives in “safe spaces” because they will not be safe in “genpop” again.

      The weak kneed civil servant and other such like “republicans” in the DC swamp should think twice before they defect in any way. They better stick with the program. They should fear the great unwashed peasants out here in flyover more than the lordships in NYC and LA and the Congress.

      Today lordship Bloomberg, not looking quite as impressive as he did a month ago, did he!

      Fear is the answer, fear, fear of reprisals. And fear is in the heart of every would be defector, traitor,. snitch, it always is. It’s usually just a question of who they fear more. In the human heart, at the core of all society, lies an essential balance of fear: fear of the outside the gates, versus the fears of inside the gates.

      Politics is an ongoing conversation about friend versus foe, which varies across space and time, changing with emergent circumstances, varying in intensity of conflict, and evoking many feelings and moods. A core mood for all political realignments, is fear. Fear is human; fear is realistic; fear helps you stay alive.

      1. Kurtz: your devotion to Hannity and Fox News is showing. Were you in a coma during the 2018 elections that Trump said should be considered a referendum on him? The House turnover was historic. The Senate would have gone blue, too, but for gerrymandering. I live in a “flyover” state. Fatty is not “fantastically popular” here. Biden’s big win yesterday gave America hope, and the stock market responded.

        You speak of “traitors”. There has never been any bigger traitor to America and American values than King Donald Trump. Not only did he cheat his way into office, he has shredded the dignity of the Office of the POTUS, alienated our allies, reignited racism that had been dormant, stoked xenophobia, stolen from the military budget to try to fill a false campaign promise, and proven just how petty, vindictive, immature, arrogant and unfit for office he is.

        Yes, I agree there is fear here: fear of just how far Trump will go because of his fragile ego and narcissism–he might start a war if he thinks he’s losing, fear of how much the COVID-19 will spread in view of our lack of preparedness due to Trump’s dismantling of the rapid response team, fear of being lied to about the incidence and risk of COVID-19, which Trump has politicized, failure to fill key positions in government, rolling back of consumer and environmental protections, and abuse of migrants and others. You speak of people who see this fat turd as “defectors” and those who blow the whistle on his misdeeds as “snitches”. The rest of us see them as American patriots.

        1. Natch says:

          “your devotion to Hannity and Fox News is showing.”

          I NEVER sit and home and watch TV unless it is zombies. Not in years. I maybe watched Hannity for about ten minutes a decade ago. I just dont like him, not that it matters. And if I watch any fox videos it is Tucker I like.

          I have said this a thousand times here and it is true but she keeps on saying the same garbage over and over and over and over again

        2. Natch says:

          “There has never been any bigger traitor to America and American values than King Donald Trump. Not only did he cheat his way into office, he has shredded the dignity of the Office of the POTUS, alienated our allies, reignited racism that had been dormant, stoked xenophobia,”

          Never! she said. preposterous.

          here’s an actual list of people convicted of treason against the US. for starters, they are actual traitors, not traitors in your fevered imagination

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:People_convicted_of_treason_against_the_United_States

          “stoked xenophobia? ”

          I applaud Donald Trump for his actions defending our homeland. Putting America on firmer defense against illegal aliens is not an act of treason, it is an act of supreme loyalty and honorable public service to the people..

          You who have never found an illegal alien you didn’t want to remain the US are the traitors.
          Not he who “builds the wall!”

          If that shoe fits you, then wear it.

          1. He who builds the wall. Bahahahahahaha!

            Dominican helpers on my landscape crew were more patriotic than the cheese burger munching con man in the oval office.

            Granted his lack of being able to keep classified what should be classified makes him a perfect mole into the Russian government, therefore an (unknowing) asset to intelligence.

            1. You’re full of garbage, too

              native born americans have a right to secure our borders and Trump is doing the job, to the extent he can, atop a mountain of foot dragging saboteurs in government, and a constant naysing chorus of “Americans” who wish to fling wide open the doors to whomever.

        3. “The rest of us see them as American patriots.”

          “The rest of us” are fools who throw the city gates wide open to barbarian hordes, you are slimy ganelons, you are only loyal to feckless shibboleths and pony slogans, not our land, not our people, not men and women of flesh and bone, just idiotic bogus “ideas” that aren’t worth a bucket of spit.

          “covid-19” what you know about that fits in a thimble. I updated here about it for 5 weeks or so every M-F, and you didn’t even nibble until your masters informed you that you should start blaming trump for it on the internet, scurrilous harridan.

          “patriots”

          We will hopefully sort out who are the patriots the old fashioned way, before I get too old to see it done.

  11. “One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.”

    – Barney Hoskyns
    ______________

    Ethical recusal or ignoble betrayal.

  12. ” However, Sessions did not cause that investigation and did the right thing in recusing himself from an investigation into the Trump campaign.”

    Bottom line.

  13. When it’s all said and done, and Trump’s attacks on anybody that has helped him, Christie, Sessions, FOX NEWS, and the list of people that helped him, only to have the Chosen One turn the tables and attack them is to long to list. In the end he will attack his own supporters. He blames everyone but himself, and that trait will sure come to the surface very quickly.

  14. I would have preferred if Trump had remained silent but that doesn’t mean that Sessions doesn’t hold a lot of blame for his actions. At the very least he didn’t have to recuse himself until he had to take action. In that way, at least, he could have moderated some of the misbehavior of elements in the DOJ. We are not dealing where two sides agree to Robert’s Rules of Ofder. In this case only one side was forced to follow them. Stalinists might use the rules against their opponents but see to it that they don’t abide to the Rules if that inhibits them from gaining power.

    1. In that way, at least, he could have moderated some of the misbehavior of elements in the DOJ.

      My wager is Sessions is a fairly ordinary provincial lawyer who got rolled by the Machiavellian Justice Department lifer, Rosenstein. The appointment of the special prosecutor and their manifest scamming around may actually have added clarity we wouldn’t have had otherwise.

      1. yes it’s a clarity we have now which we should never forget. they could care less about rules or as you said it last week, procedural fairness. from now on, let’s remember that and not be rolled like Sessions was. you put it well

  15. Sessions is a good man and I voted for him yesterday. That said, I can see why Trump is sensitive about all things related to the Russia investigation.

    The strange thing is Tubberville is on video saying extremely negative things about Trump. I suppose Trump is unaware of theses videos. Tubbs is not a better choice for many reasons.

    1. Didn’t see that about Tommy Tuberville. Trump is trying to keep Sessions out because he’s betting that if Sessions gets back in the Senate he will be another “Romney” turncoat thorn in his side.

  16. I respect and like Sessions but the recusal was another example of how the DOJ was pushed by partisan players to smear and defame all of the Trump administration, based on fake/false evidence. Let’s list the numerous recusals that DON’T happen where the behavior was a clear threat to justice – Judge Amy Jackson most recently, Strock, multiple players on Mueller’s team, etc – and we all learned that Democrats controlled the power centers in Justice and the FBI. Thank goodness they have been unmasked for the partisans that they are. They use power like Machievelli and should be targeted for removal from their posts. I only hope the IG, Barr, and Grenell make good use of their time.

    1. Those are very good points! And add Rosenstein to the list. He should have recused himself. I have nothing against Jeff Sessions but if he thought that be goody two-shoes was what Trump needed, he was very wrong. This was a knife fight from the beginning and he should have strapped on.

      Squeeky Fromm
      Girl Reporter

      2. Natacha’s a real life analogue to the main characters in a ‘psycho-biddy’ flick. Benson’s more like some guy doing commercials for reverse mortgages, who has to do umpteen takes like Rita Hayworth at the but-end of her career.

  18. Obviously you do not understand the frustration and anger over the predicate of the Russia hoax. Couldn’t Sessions have started an investigation to determine if a Special Prosecutor was appropriate.

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