Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 10:52 pm
Senate Democrats responded to Attorney General Jeff Session’s refusal to recuse himself from an investigation into the Trump campaign for which Session’s worked at the time by setting up to expose the Session’s investigation as the sham it will be.
All nine Senate Judiciary Democrats signed a letter to Jeff Sessions asking him to recuse himself from all investigations surrounding Trump’s connections with Russia.
The letter signed by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Al Franken (D-MN), Christopher A. Coons (D-DE), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) cited 28 C.F.R. as disqualifying “anyone who is closely identified with an elected official or candidate with a substantial interest in an investigation.”
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Jeff Sessions worked closely on Trump’s campaign and was the chairman of Trump’s national security advisory committee during the campaign. Trump’s campaign is being investigated for “constant, high-level contact” with Russia.
Russia interfered in the U.S. election and “hacked” the election in various ways in order to help Trump win.
Perhaps Sessions is hanging his hat on an intelligence officer’s report that transcripts of Trump’s National Security adviser Mike Flynn’s phone calls do not show anything criminal, but there could be several reasons for that and it hasn’t been confirmed. However, none of those reasons suggest that Sessions can be impartial while investigating the campaign he worked on and himself.
This letter is in addition to the letter eleven Democratic Senators wrote Wednesday, which was provided to PoliticusUSA and called for Attorney General Sessions to recuse himself. Wednesday’s letter also called for a special prosecutor.
Thursday’s letter from all Senate Judiciary Democrats asked Sessions to comply with the “longstanding Justice Department policy limiting communications between the White House and Justice Department, particularly with respect to criminal or civil enforcement matters.”
If the Trump administration’s prior behavior is taken into account, there is very little chance they will do the ethical thing, let alone the traditional thing. They will also not be held to the same standard other administrations have held, most recently the Obama administration.
Jeff Sessions’ refusal to recuse himself from an investigation into his own possible activity with Russia, which quite possibly undermined his country – the country for which he is now Attorney General – is absurd.
Sessions’ refusal to recuse himself is very close to an admission of guilt on behalf of the Trump administration, campaign and/or Sessions himself. There is no other reason why Sessions would not recuse himself, other than the idea that he was partially placed in this position to quash any investigations into Trump’s Russian connections.
The FBI investigation also falls under Sessions’ purview now.
The point of the Senate Judiciary Democrats’ letter is to say, ‘Recuse yourself or this investigation is a sham.’ The letter won’t impact the corrupt Trump administration’s choice, but it is meant to signal that the investigation will be viewed as a sham if Sessions does not recuse himself.
This letter from the Democrats is a set up that will pay off down the road if justice is your thing. Think of it as a Chess move against an administration that can’t even play checkers.
Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
