It smells pretty fishy
Attacks on Sessions make Trump look guilty of something
Ihave long been skeptical about the Trump-Russia scandal. The narrative fashioned by the partisan opponents of President Donald Trump seemed to assume a lot of facts not in evidence. We have been told for months and months about all this smoke, but I never glimpsed the fire.
What’s more, I look askance at anonymous leaks from the intelligence community. Since 9/11, the IC has grown in size, scope and political power. I am struck by the regularity with which IC officials leak information to the press, for obviously political purposes. Mr. Trump has been critical of the IC. Plus, he has a lot of genuinely bad ideas about relations with Russia and Europe. So, I guessed that the IC was trying to embarrass or pressurethe president.
I figured that whatever Mr. Trump did, if anything, it was out of ignorance, not malfeasance. While I thought the investigation should go forward, I doubted anything damning aboutthe president would come of it.
But my view changed last week, when Mr. Trump began attacking Attorney General Jeff Sessions. That seemslike the actions of a guilty man.
As a senator from Alabama, Mr. Sessions was an early booster of Mr. Trump, endorsing him right before his state’s primary. He did not do so out of political expediency. At that point, the only other major officeholder who had backed Mr. Trump was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Rather, Mr. Sessions embraced Mr. Trump for policy reasons — namely, Mr. Sessions was one of the staunchest immigration hawks in the Congress and liked Mr. Trump’s tough stanceon the issue.
As attorney general, Mr. Sessions has been intent on enforcing our immigration laws much more strictly. You can think rigorous enforcement is a good idea or bad idea (I think it is good), but Mr. Sessions is doing exactly what Mr. Trump promised last year. If anything, immigration law enforcement is one of the few areas in which the Trump administration has deliveredon its campaign pledges.
Moreover, Mr. Sessions did the right thing by recusing himself from the investigation into the relationship between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Justice Department officials must be totally above suspicion or reproach. Mr. Sessions, having been a surrogate for the Trump campaign, obviously has a conflict of interest regarding this investigation.He had to step aside.
So why is Mr. Trump attacking him? It appears to be all about special prosecuter Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who is heading the Trump-Russia investigation. Mr. Sessions’ decision to recuse himself meant that the control over the investigation devolved to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. It was Mr. Rosenstein, not Mr. Sessions, who hired Mr. Mueller. And Mr. Rosenstein, not the attorney general, has authorityover the special prosecutor.
But if Mr. Sessions were to step down, and Mr. Trump appointed a loyalist as attorney general, the new appointee — and by extension Mr. Trump — could rein Mr. Mueller in. Orfire him.
Why would Mr. Trump want to do this? A possible answer comes from a July 20 Bloomberg story. Mr. Mueller is “examining a broad range of transactions involving Mr. Trump’s businesses as well as those of his associates.” Maybe Mr. Trump is not worried about campaign activities but his business dealings with Russia.
FiringMr. Sessions outright would look too Nixonian. In 1973, President Richard Nixon wanted Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox fired, but Attorney General Elliot Richardson refused, so he resigned. Nixon’s maneuvers made him look guilty, which of course, he was. If Mr. Trump fires Mr. Sessions, he would look guilty, too. Better to embarrass himinto resigning.
But Mr. Trump already looks guilty. Why else would the president go after Mr. Sessions, one of the most effective officials in the entire administration, if he has nothing to hide?
Maybe it is some illegal activity — by Mr. Trump himself or a close member of his family. Maybe it is just an embarrassing piece of information. Maybe it is campaign-related, maybe not. But it seems to me that there has to be something going on. There is no other reason to attack Jeff Sessions.