Donald Trump comes out guns blazing for Jeff Sessions

President Trump did today for Attorney General Jeff Sessions what he signally failed to do for his former National Security Adviser General Michael Flynn, which is throw the full weight of his support behind him.

In a series of powerful tweets today (here, here, here and here) he made clear his unequivocal backing for Sessions.

The President also made clear his belief – which I share – that the Democrats and their allies in the US intelligence community and in the media who are pursuing this Russia campaign are overplaying their hand, alleging the existence of a gigantic conspiracy behind the Trump campaign and Russia for which no evidence exists.

Jeff Sessions is an honest man. He did not say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not intentional. This whole narrative is a way of saving face for Democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed to win. The Democrats are overplaying their hand. They lost the election, and now they have lost their grip on reality. The real story is all of the illegal leaks of classified and other information. It is a total “witch hunt!

I would add that Jeff Sessions’s news conference yesterday revealed that based on Department of Justice advice Sessions was already on the brink of announcing a decision to recuse himself before news of his meetings with Russian ambassador Kislyak was published by the media.  That this is so is clear from the following words Sessions used in his news conference yesterday

….at my confirmation hearing, I promised that I would do this. If a specific matter arose where I believed my impartiality might reasonably be questioned, I would “consult with the department ethics officials regarding the most appropriate way to proceed,” close quote.

That’s what I told them at the confirmation hearing. I have been here just three weeks today. A lot has been happening in this three week period. I wish I’d had more of my staff on board, but we’re still waiting for confirmation for them.

Much has been done. Much needs to be done. But I did and have done as I promised. I have met with senior officials shortly after arriving here. We evaluated the rules of ethics and recusal. I have considered the issues at stake. In fact, on Monday of this week, we set a meeting with an eye to a final decision on this question. And on Monday, we set that meeting today. So this was a day that we planned to have a final discussion about handling this.

I asked for their candid and honest opinion about what I should do about investigations, certain investigations. And my staff recommended recusal. They said that since I had involvement with the campaign, I should not be involved in any campaign investigation. I have studied the rules and considered their comments and evaluation. I believe those recommendations are right and just.

Therefore, I have recused myself in the matters that deal with the Trump campaign. The exact language of that recusal is in the press release that we — we will give to you. I’ve said this, quote, “I have now decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matter relating in any way to the campaigns for president of the United States.”

I went on to say, “this announcement should not be interpreted as confirmation of the existence of any investigation or suggestive of the scope of any such investigation because we in the Department of Justice resist confirming or denying the very existence of investigations.”

So, in the end, I have followed the right procedure, just as I promised the committee I would, just as I believe any good attorney general should do. And a proper decision, I believe, has been reached.

(bold italics added)

In other words it looks as if the media – in this case The Washington Post – rushed out the story about Sessions’s meetings with Kislyak in the knowledge that Sessions was already about to announce that he would recuse himself after receiving the recommendation of his staff.  That way Sessions’s decision to recuse himself was made to appear as if it was made under pressure – heightening the appearance of scandal – when in fact this was not the case.

I have said that the case against Jeff Sessions is fake.  The fact the story of his meetings with Kislyak appears to have been rushed out to pre-empt his announcement he was recusing himself shows just how fake and concocted it actually is.

Finally President Trump couldn’t resist capping his series of tweets of today by publishing a mischievous tweet showing Senator Schumer having what looks like tea and cake with Russian President Putin, and calling Schumer a hypocrite.

Donald J. Trump on Twitter: “We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin. A total hypocrite! pic.twitter.com/Ik3yqjHzsA / Twitter”

We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin. A total hypocrite! pic.twitter.com/Ik3yqjHzsA