Dopey Sessions declines to appoint second special counsel

[Swordsmyth]

Attorney General Jeff Sessions revealed in a letter to lawmakers Thursday that he had declined to name a second special counsel to investigate allegations of surveillance abuse within the Department of Justice (DOJ), despite pressure from the Republican Party for him to do so.
In his letter to GOP committee chairmen Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Bob Goodlatte (Va.) and Trey Gowdy (S.C.), Sessions said the appointment of a special counsel only occurs under "the most 'extraordinary circumstances.'"
"To justify such an appointment, the Attorney General would need to conclude that 'the public interest would be served by removing a large degree of responsibility for the matter from the Department of Justice,'" Sessions wrote.
He said that he had named a federal prosecutor in Utah named John Huber to lead the investigation into Republicans' allegations that the FBI and DOJ abused a surveillance program against a former Trump campaign aide.
"The additional matters raised in your March 6, 2018, letter fall within the scope of his existing mandate, and I am confident that Mr. Huber's review will include a full, complete, and objective evaluation of these matters in a manner that is consistent with the law and the facts," Sessions wrote.
Sessions said that upon completion of the investigation he would receive a recommendation from Huber about whether the allegations merit the need for another special counsel.

More at: http://thehill.com/policy/national-s...bi-allegations






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[goldenequity]

If Grassley doesn't get the 1.2M documents UNREDACTED per subpoena deadline,
they should declare contempt of Congress,
and impeach them all (Sessions included.)

[Jan2017]

If Grassley doesn't get the 1.2M documents UNREDACTED per subpoena deadline,
they should declare contempt of Congress,
and impeach them all (Sessions included.)

I was thinking Rand could use some of his airtime to advocate for more public pressure to help encourage the release of those 1.2 million documents for Sen. Grassley's Judiciary Committee.

[Brian4Liberty]

"We investigated ourselves, and found no evidence of wrongdoing."

[TheCount]

Nothing burger.

[Swordsmyth]

Utah US attorney John Huber was revealed Thursday as the person Attorney General Jeff Sessions tasked with looking into Republican claims of FBI misconduct and whether more should have been done to investigate Hillary Clinton's ties to a Russian nuclear agency.Huber, who has served in both Democratic and Republican administrations as a career prosecutor, nearly had his tenure as US attorney cut short last year. In March 2017, shortly after he took charge of the Justice Department, Sessions asked for the resignations of 46 US attorneys who were previous administration holdovers.
Originally appointed by President Barack Obama in 2015, Huber offered his resignation, leaving his fate in the hands of the DOJ.

But President Donald Trump re-nominated Huber in June 2017, and two months later Huber was back at his former post, confirmed by the US Senate for an additional four years.
Last year, former DOJ officials raised concerns over Huber's appearance at a White House press briefing to tout aspects of Trump's immigration agenda -- something that critics argued blurred the lines of the DOJ's independence from the White House, NPR reported at the time.
During a June 28, 2017, press briefing alongside the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Huber spoke on the behalf of the DOJ in support of two bills that sought to enforce harsher penalties for illegal immigrants -- "Kate's Law" and the "No Sanctuaries Act," both of which were passed in the House.

Since then, Huber has taken on a leadership role on Sessions' advisory committee of US attorneys that provide counsel to him and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Before becoming Utah's top federal prosecutor, Huber clocked in 13 years as an assistant US attorney with experience handling violent crime and national security cases, according to his official biography.

More at: https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/29/polit...-+Top+Stories)

[thoughtomator]

Special counsels are Constitutionally dubious anyway - the law should be repealed.

[seapilot]

Utah US attorney John Huber was revealed Thursday as the person Attorney General Jeff Sessions tasked with looking into Republican claims of FBI misconduct and whether more should have been done to investigate Hillary Clinton's ties to a Russian nuclear agency.Huber, who has served in both Democratic and Republican administrations as a career prosecutor, nearly had his tenure as US attorney cut short last year. In March 2017, shortly after he took charge of the Justice Department, Sessions asked for the resignations of 46 US attorneys who were previous administration holdovers.
Originally appointed by President Barack Obama in 2015, Huber offered his resignation, leaving his fate in the hands of the DOJ.

But President Donald Trump re-nominated Huber in June 2017, and two months later Huber was back at his former post, confirmed by the US Senate for an additional four years.
Last year, former DOJ officials raised concerns over Huber's appearance at a White House press briefing to tout aspects of Trump's immigration agenda -- something that critics argued blurred the lines of the DOJ's independence from the White House, NPR reported at the time.
During a June 28, 2017, press briefing alongside the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Huber spoke on the behalf of the DOJ in support of two bills that sought to enforce harsher penalties for illegal immigrants -- "Kate's Law" and the "No Sanctuaries Act," both of which were passed in the House.

Since then, Huber has taken on a leadership role on Sessions' advisory committee of US attorneys that provide counsel to him and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Before becoming Utah's top federal prosecutor, Huber clocked in 13 years as an assistant US attorney with experience handling violent crime and national security cases, according to his official biography.

More at: https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/29/polit...-+Top+Stories)

They way I read it this prosecutor from Utah is there for indictments of criminal acts found by the IG. The IG report should be coming out very soon and after if Sessions is doing his job there will be indictments. If not then its same old same old.

[timosman]

They way I read it this prosecutor from Utah is there for indictments of criminal acts found by the IG. The IG report should be coming out very soon and after if Sessions is doing his job there will be indictments. If not then its same old same old.

Introducing another special counsel would delay the current investigation as a good part of the year would have to be spent getting them up to speed. I think what he's saying is thank you, but no thank you.

[Aratus]

The GOP wants another one of 'em to rip into the vast Uma laptop
records ole Comey the FBI guy got fixated on. They are not trying
to subdivide things into the different scandals that are connected
to things purely Trump businesses or campaign or administration.

[Aratus]

A masturbatory GOP wetdream ambition for certain high GOP party elders is a reopening
of things KENNETH STARR so that Hillary & Bill can be put on the spot, thusly creating a
quick and fast bargaining chip that Mitch McConnell is "horse trading" infamous for. New
Clinton dirt gets certain democrats to back off (maybe not Bernie) as Trump gets to see
things quiet down. His own greed, graft and incompetence then is less focused on by all.