WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Wednesday that he never would have appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions had he known Mr. Sessions would recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation that has dogged his presidency, calling the decision “very unfair to the president.” [Read excerpts of The Times’s interview with President Trump.] In a remarkable public break with one of his earliest political supporters, Mr. Trump complained that Mr. Sessions’s decision ultimately led to the appointment of a special counsel that should not have happened. “Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else,” Mr. Trump said. In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, the president also accused James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director he fired in May, of trying to leverage a dossier of compromising material to keep his job. Mr. Trump criticized both the acting F.B.I. director who has been filling in since Mr. Comey’s dismissal and the deputy attorney general who recommended it. And he took on Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel now leading the investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s election. Mr. Trump said Mr. Mueller was running an office rife with conflicts of interest and warned investigators against delving into matters too far afield from Russia. Mr. Trump never said he would order the Justice Department to fire Mr. Mueller, nor would he outline circumstances under which he might do so. But he left open the possibility as he expressed deep grievance over an investigation that has taken a political toll in the six months since he took office. Asked if Mr. Mueller’s investigation would cross a red line if it expanded to look at his family’s finances beyond any relationship to Russia, Mr. Trump said, “I would say yes.” He would not say what he would do about it. “I think that’s a violation. Look, this is about Russia.” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/trump-interview-sessions-russia.html
I particularly liked the line where he said he wouldn't have hired Rosenstein if he'd known he was from Baltimore, because there are no Republicans from Baltimore. 1) Uh, you hired someone without learning anything about them? 2) Rosenstein isn't from Baltimore. He was only there because Bush appointed him to be US attorney there. President Dumbass strikes again. Multiple strikes today. barfo
Seeing how Trump just threw Sessions under the bus I don't see him standing tall for anyone except maybe his family.
Let's translate it: If he had known that Sessions was going to follow the law, he would not have appointed him.
He appointed Sessions because 1) Sessions was the first Senator to support him and loyalty comes before qualifications and 2) Sessions had a long history of racism and immigrant-bashing. Who would he appoint as new Attorney General? Alex Jones? Sean Hannity? Ann Coulter? (no, she criticized him once)
It didn't look good to hire Flynn and have him fired or resign right away. Though I see absolutely nothing wrong with what Sessions did in meeting with the Russian ambassador, his immediate recusal only fueled the idiotic conspiracy theories. I'm not a Sessions fan. I've posted "Fuck Jeff Ssssions" a number of times. I think Trump should really shut up and do his job. I think he's frustrated that the resistance is effective at preventing him from getting a lot of good things done.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/19/rosenstein-casts-shade-on-comey-memos-leak-240734 Rosenstein casts shade on Comey's leak of memos on Trump talks The Justice official seems unconcerned about potential conflicts on special prosecutor's staff. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein suggested in an interview aired Wednesday that former FBI Director James Comey broke with Justice Department policy when he arranged to leak memos about his conversations with President Donald Trump. During an appearance on Fox News, the No. 2 Justice Department official was asked whether it would "ever be proper for a FBI director" to leak notes about conversations with the president. "As a general proposition, you have to understand the Department of Justice. We take confidentiality seriously, so when we have memoranda about our ongoing matters, we have an obligation to keep that confidential," Rosenstein said during the interview for Fox's "The Story with Martha MacCallum," which was taped Tuesday but aired on Wednesday. "As a general position, I think it is quite clear. It's what we were taught, all of us as prosecutors and agents." ... Rosenstein, who made the decision to appoint former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel for that matter, was also asked whether Mueller's relationship with Comey made Mueller a less than ideal choice. "I made the decision to appoint Director Mueller based upon his reputation. He had an excellent reputation. Really bi-partisan support for his integrity. That's why I made that decision....But, I can assure you that if there were conflicts that arose, because of Director Mueller or anybody employed by Director Mueller, we have a process within the department to take care of that," Rosenstein said. (and this is for the dog Asked about some prosecutors having donated to Clinton's campaign, Rosenstein suggested that the public should focus on the outcome of the investigation and not the background of those conducting it.
