USA TODAY International Edition
Trump’s demand raises ethical issues
Sessions resisted notion of reviving Clinton inquiry
WASHINGTON If President Trump listened to the broadcast of Jeff Sessions’ contentious Senate confirmation hearing in January, he heard an explanation for why his attorney general hasn’t given in to his demands this week for an investigation into Hillary Clinton.
“This country does not punish its political enemies,” Sessions told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He acknowledged that his own critical remarks about Clinton during the 2016 presidential election would disqualify him from launching such an inquiry.
“I believe the proper thing for me to do would be to recuse myself from any questions involving those kind of investigations that involve Secretary Clinton,” Sessions said.
Since Trump first publicly expressed frustration with his attorney general last week — specifically over Sessions’ decision in March to recuse himself from overseeing the widening investigation into alleged Russian interference in last year’s election — Sessions has said very little.
But the attorney general’s remarks nearly eight months ago underscore the minefield of potential conflicts of interest inherent in Trump’s request to investigate a political opponent, regardless of the traditional independence of the Justice Department.
Trump’s insistence that Sessions reopen the inquiry into Clinton’s use of a private email
“I believe the proper thing for me to do would be to recuse myself from any questions involving those kind of investigations that involve Secretary Clinton.”
Jeff Sessions
server when she was secretary of State represents a troubling attempt to manipulate the criminal justice system, lawmakers and former federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
“Prosecutorial decisions should be based on applying facts to the law without hint of political motivation,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R- S. C., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “To do otherwise is to run away from the long- standing American tradition of separating the law from politics, regardless of party.”
Others saw even more serious implications in the recent series of Trump’s disparaging comments about Sessions, coupled with the calls for a renewed Clinton investigation.
“To make a demand like this in public, while implying that the attorney general’s job is in jeopardy, almost feels like an attempt at blackmail,” said Patrick Cotter, who has prosecuted high- profile organized crime figures. “It reeks of a crude mob deal that even most mobsters wouldn’t stoop to.
“I’m no fan of Attorney General Sessions, but I believe the president is threatening his own attorney general,” Cotter said. “He’s essentially telling Sessions, ‘ If you want to keep your job, you better start an investigation of Hillary Clinton.’ ”
PUBLIC ‘ DISAPPOINTMENT’
A day after describing his attorney general as “beleaguered,” Trump fired off a series of tweets Tuesday morning criticizing Sessions for taking “a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes.”
He questioned why Sessions did not pursue reports from early this year that officials in Ukraine sought to interfere in the election.
At a White House news conference, Trump reasserted his “disappointment” with Sessions’ recusal from the Justice Department inquiry into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians who allegedly sought to influence the election.
The decision was “unfair” to the presidency, he said.
Trump refused to answer questions about whether he intended to dismiss the attorney general. “Time will tell,” Trump said.
Trump’s renewed focus on prosecuting Clinton — after spending a half- year in office — is a departure from his own postelection statements in which he expressed little interest in pursu- ing further inquiries into his defeated campaign foe.
FBI Director James Comey, who was dismissed by Trump in May, formally closed the Clinton investigation days before the election in November without recommending criminal charges.
Less than two weeks after the election, Trump told The New York Times he did not want to hurt the Clintons.
“I really don’t,” Trump said. “She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways.”
Kellyanne Conway, a Trump adviser, was more definitive when she told MSNBC last year that Trump hoped Congress would forgo further investigation into the former secretary of State’s activities.
“I think when the presidentelect, who’s also the head of your party, tells you before he’s even inaugurated that he doesn’t wish to pursue these charges, it sends a very strong message, tone and content to members” of Congress,” Conway said.
CROSSING A LINE
Now, Trump sends a very different message by portraying the case as a make- or- break issue for the continued tenure of his attorney general, analysts said.
William “Bill” Barr, who served as attorney general in the administration of George H. W. Bush, said there is nothing inherently illegal or unethical about a president recommending an investigation.
“But in the current context,” Barr said, “it would be viewed as political.”
During the campaign, Trump and his surrogates used the Clinton case as a rallying cry all along the trail, often leading chants of “Lock her up!”
Now that he’s president, Trump’s pursuit of Clinton could be viewed as an attempt to punish a political rival — or exert undue influence on investigators.
Regardless of whether Trump convinces the Justice Department to take up an inquiry, his latest push on this front is “unprecedented,” former federal prosecutor Scott Fredericksen said.
“The suggestion that he wants to prosecute and imprison a political rival crosses a very bold and historical line that establishes the independence of the Justice Department,” Fredericksen said. “That line is what separates our American democracy from a Third World dictatorship. A very important line may have been crossed here.”