Trump on Sessions: 'I don't have an attorney general'

[Zippyjuan]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45577781

US President Donald Trump has said he does not "have an attorney general" in his fiercest attack yet on Jeff Sessions.

In an interview with Hill.TV, Mr Trump renewed criticism of Mr Sessions' decision to step aside from the inquiry into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

He also said he was unhappy with Mr Sessions' response to immigration.

The attorney general is yet to respond to Mr Trump's comments.

It is unusual for a sitting president to attack their attorney general and critics accuse Mr Trump of trying to meddle in the legal system.

After the president criticised Mr Sessions last month, two key Republican senators signalled that they would support Mr Trump if he were to fire Mr Sessions after the November mid-term elections.

However, other Republicans told Politico they thought this would be a bad move and said they were standing by the attorney general.

Mr Sessions has pushed back against previous criticism by Mr Trump. "While I am attorney general, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations," he said in August.

"I demand the highest standards, and where they are not met, I take action."

Mr Sessions was an early supporter of Mr Trump's presidential campaign.

But he left the Russia investigation - which is also reportedly now looking into whether Mr Trump has attempted to obstruct justice - in 2017, citing a potential conflict of interest, and handed control to his deputy, Rod Rosenstein.

The president insists there was no collusion between his campaign and the Russian government, and denies he has attempted to obstruct justice.

What has Mr Trump said this time?
"I don't have an attorney general. It's very sad," Mr Trump said during Tuesday's interview.

He added that he was "very disappointed" about Mr Sessions' decision to leave the investigation.

Asked whether he would consider firing Mr Sessions, the president responded: "We'll see what happens. A lot of people have asked me to do that.

"And I guess I study history, and I say I just want to leave things alone, but it was very unfair what he did [in recusing himself from the Russia investigation]."

Mr Trump also told Hill.TV that he was "not happy" with Mr Sessions on immigration and other issues, and said the attorney general had performed "very poorly" during the nomination process for the post.

"I mean, he was mixed up and confused, and people that worked with him for, you know, a long time in the Senate were not nice to him, but he was giving very confusing answers," he said.

"Answers that should have been easily answered. And that was a rough time for him."

That Mr Trump went so far as to say he doesn't have an attorney general - a slightly tamer version of "he's dead to me" - is dramatic, but it's variations on a theme.

What might be surprising, and might also be significant, is the president's decision to criticise Mr Sessions for more than just his recusal from the Russia probe. He doesn't like the way he's handling the immigration issue, for instance.

Given that Mr Sessions was considered to be one of the hardest of the hard-liners on immigration while in the US Senate and the man who helped refine Mr Trump's anti-immigration strategy during the campaign, this is remarkable.

[Swordsmyth]

[AuH20]

The guy is a disaster who let the Russia probe get to this point. Sessions needs to see the inside of a prison cell.

[jkr]

I HEAR ANDREW NAPOLITANO IS AVAILABLE

[Swordsmyth]

I HEAR ANDREW NAPOLITANO IS AVAILABLE

No thanks, Judge Swamp is on the Russiagate bandwagon.

[jllundqu]

44D underwater backgammon.... Sessions is secretly taking down the deep state.... just you wait! /sarcasm

[Aratus]

Methinks lil ole Jeff Sessions is one of Trump's doormat people.
He indeedy has done 99.9% of what DJT has actually wanted...

[Swordsmyth]

Shifting from Sessions to the much-maligned FBI, Trump said the agency was "a cancer" and that uncovering deep-seated corruption in the FBI may be remembered as the "crowning achievement" of his administration, per the Hill.

"What we’ve done is a great service to the country, really," Trump said in a 45-minute, wide-ranging interview in the Oval Office.
"I hope to be able put this up as one of my crowning achievements that I was able to ... expose something that is truly a cancer in our country."

Moreover, Trump insisted that he never trusted former FBI Director James Comey, and that he had initially planned to fire Comey shortly after the inauguration, but had been talked out of it by his aides.

Trump also said he regretted not firing former FBI Director James Comey immediately instead of waiting until May 2017, confirming an account his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, gave Hill.TV earlier in the day that Trump was dismayed in 2016 by the way Comey handled the Hillary Clinton email case and began discussing firing him well before he became president.
"If I did one mistake with Comey, I should have fired him before I got here. I should have fired him the day I won the primaries," Trump said. "I should have fired him right after the convention, say I don’t want that guy. Or at least fired him the first day on the job. ... I would have been better off firing him or putting out a statement that I don’t want him there when I get there."

The FISA Court judges who approved the initial requests allowing the FBI to surveil employees of the Trump Campaign also came in for some criticism, with Trump claiming they used "poor Carter Page, who nobody even knew, and who I feel very badly for...as a foil...to surveil a candidate or the presidency of the United States." Trump added that he felt the judges had been "misled" by the FBI.

He criticizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court’s approval of the warrant that authorized surveillance of Carter Page, a low-level Trump campaign aide, toward the end of the 2016 election, suggesting the FBI misled the court.
"They know this is one of the great scandals in the history of our country because basically what they did is, they used Carter Page, who nobody even knew, who I feel very badly for, I think he’s been treated very badly. They used Carter Page as a foil in order to surveil a candidate for the presidency of the United States."
As for the judges on the secret intelligence court: "It looks to me just based on your reporting, that they have been misled," the president said, citing a series of columns in The Hill newspaper identifying shortcomings in the FBI investigation. "I mean I don’t think we have to go much further than to say that they’ve been misled."
"One of the things I’m disappointed in is that the judges in FISA didn’t, don’t seem to have done anything about it. I’m very disappointed in that Now, I may be wrong because, maybe as we sit here and talk, maybe they’re well into it. We just don’t know that because I purposely have not chosen to get involved," Trump said.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...er-our-country

[enhanced_deficit]

Seems like MAGA is being isolated by Deep Stage.
He also no longer has his personal attorney/fixer Cohen, his business CFO or his personal publisher friend of National Enquirer David Pecker. Cabinet has been a revolving door. Other his loyal SIL/anti-nepotism champion Kushner and Giuliani,Bolton,Haley, can't think of any other loyal person around him now.

[r3volution 3.0]

But but but, who will do the civil asset forfeiture...?

[Anti Globalist]

Attorney General in name only.