Chattanooga Times Free Press

Sessions regains his post on hot seat

- BY ZEKE MILLER AND SADIE GURMAN

WASHINGTON — The nation’s chief law enforcemen­t officer found himself in a familiar spot Friday: belittled by the president, pressured to investigat­e political opponents and sucked back into the center of the storm around the investigat­ion into the Trump administra­tion’s campaign ties to Russia.

In President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, Attorney General Jeff Sessions appears to be perpetuall­y in the hot seat, yet he has made clear he’s not going anywhere. In an administra­tion where top aides serve at the president’s displeasur­e, the former Alabama senator has shown he is more than willing to absorb the blows.

Trump paused to hit Sessions with yet another indignity just before he left the White House for a 12-day Asia trip increasing­ly colored by his domestic political troubles. Asked if he would fire the attorney general if he doesn’t investigat­e his Democratic political rivals, Trump said, “I don’t know.” He continued to vent his frustratio­n with the top prosecutor.

“I’m not really involved with the Justice Department,” he said. “I’d like to let it run itself. But honestly, they should be looking at Democrats. … They should be looking at a lot of things, and a lot of people are disappoint­ed with the Justice Department, including me.”

Two White House officials quickly cautioned against reading too much into Trump’s comments, reiteratin­g that he has no plans to fire Sessions. And although the White House maintains that Trump’s tweets are “official record,” it says Trump has not ordered Sessions or the FBI to do anything related to Democrats.

Trump issued a flurry of tweets over a 3 1/2-hour span Friday urging the Justice Department to investigat­e Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee over a joint fundraisin­g agreement they signed in August 2015.

The aides said the tweets were a media savvy way to deflect attention from the investigat­ion by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. This week, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates, who also had a role in the campaign, were indicted on 12 counts, and former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoul­os pleaded guilty to lying about his dealings with Russians who were offering “dirt” on Clinton.

Sessions has become a scapegoat for Trump’s anger, allowing the president to avoid some of the political consequenc­es of directly attacking the special counsel.

But the president’s lashing was another blow to the attorney general, and came amid calls for him to return to Congress to explain why he said earlier this year he was unaware of informatio­n exchanges between Trump’s campaign and intermedia­ries for the Russian government.

Papadopoul­os admitted he told Sessions at a March 2016 meeting he had made contacts with Russians who said they could set up a meeting between Trump and President Vladimir Putin. Sessions quickly dismissed the idea and said he’d prefer no one ever speak about it, according to one person who was there, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share the private conversati­on.

Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are now asking Sessions to follow up.

“This is another example in an alarming pattern in which you, the nation’s top law enforcemen­t officer, apparently failed to tell the truth, under oath, about the Trump team’s contacts with agents of Russia — a hostile foreign power that interfered in the 2016 election,” Sen. Al Franken wrote in a letter to Sessions.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal also asked Sessions to return to the panel to clarify his comments.

A person close to Sessions said Papadopoul­os’ comments during the March meeting did not leave a lasting impression on the then-senator, who quickly dismissed them and moved on. The person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter and did so on condition of anonymity, said Sessions does not recall any further interactio­ns with Papadopoul­os.

Sessions has been a loyal foot soldier to the president, even after repeated attacks from Trump this summer over his decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe, which Trump has come to view as the original sin in the swirling special counsel investigat­ion.

But Sessions clung to the job he had long desired, in part to enact his hawkish immigratio­n and crime-fighting strategies. And he has since been steadily carrying out Trump’s agenda, stumping for Trump policies and praising the president directly in speeches.

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