Day 182: Trump Blasts Sessions in Only Moment of Coherence During Interview

Trump’s statements about his attorney general could induce Sessions to tender his resignation for the second time in as many months.

Six weeks ago, it was obvious that Donald Trump was disenchanted, to say the least, with his attorney general Jeff Sessions. The feeling almost certainly stemmed from Sessions recusing himself from the Russia investigation. Reports out of Washington were that Sessions offered his resignation, which Trump declined.

Now, Trump has publicly gone scorched-earth on Sessions, during a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times.

“Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself, which frankly I think is very unfair to the president,” he added. “How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, ‘Thanks, Jeff, but I’m not going to take you.’ It’s extremely unfair — and that’s a mild word — to the president.”

Mr. Trump also faulted Mr. Sessions for his testimony during Senate confirmation hearings when Mr. Sessions said he had not met with any Russians even though he had met at least twice with Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak. “Jeff Sessions gave some bad answers,” the president said. “He gave some answers that were simple questions and should have been simple answers, but they weren’t.”

The audio betrays just how angered Trump is about Sessions’ actions.

Sessions, through a spokesperson, declined comment. It would seem likely that he is at least contemplating resignation at this point, considering the humiliation of being called out in such a manner by his boss.

Trump’s own words should add fuel to the obstruction of justice fire. In theory, it shouldn’t matter who’s investigating the Russia issues, as long as they’re unbiased. All things being equal, if Sessions didn’t lie about his connections with Russia and was an open-minded attorney general, he’d be overseeing the Russia probe with the same vigor as anyone else. (The FBI would be conducting the underlying investigation, but the attorney general heads the Justice Department, which oversees the FBI, among other law enforcement agencies.)

The FBI’s role is remain entirely apolitical and examine issues based on facts alone. Trump’s words state that he — a political actor — is harmed by Sessions’ recusal. The implication of his statements is that if Sessions was there, he would be able to provide Trump some cover on this matter, as opposed to an outside investigator. That is inherently against the roles of the attorney general, the Justice Department, and the FBI.

In addition to blasting one of his top Cabinet members, the Times interview had numerous exchanges of blanket incoherence.

On the recent history of Europe:

On insurance:

On the FBI director’s role:

On Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein:

“I said, ‘Who’s your deputy?’ So his deputy he hardly knew, and that’s Rosenstein, Rod Rosenstein, who is from Baltimore. There are very few Republicans in Baltimore, if any. So, he’s from Baltimore.”

Trump also accused former FBI director James Comey of trying to blackmail him, warned special counsel Robert Mueller to not overreach during his investigation, and defended his undisclosed conversation with Vladimir Putin as mere pleasantries.

182 days in, 1280 to go

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