Sessions axeing sparks fears
Move casts doubt on Russia probe future
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump was accused on Thursday of pushing America toward a constitutional crisis after his firing of the attorney-general cast doubt over the future of an explosive probe into election collusion with Russian agents.
Mr Trump emerged from Tuesday’s midterm elections promising a new era of cooperation, but suspicions that he is trying to kill the Russia probe and an extraordinary intensification of his war with journalists has thrown Washington into turmoil.
The investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow during the 2016 election has been hanging over Mr Trump throughout his turbulent presidency.
Mr Trump has continuously threatened that he has the power to shut down what he calls “a witch hunt” and on Wednesday he took the first potential step when he replaced his attorney-general, Jeff Sessions, with loyalist Matthew Whitaker.
The switch, announced abruptly in a Trump tweet, provoked consternation across Washington, where politicians from both sides of the aisle have long warned that political interference in Mr Mueller’s work cannot be tolerated.
Democrats, who won the lower house of Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections, now see Mr Trump as close to crossing that line with the ultimate goal of covering up alleged crimes.
“The rule of law is disappearing before our eyes,” tweeted Sally Yates, a deputy attorney-general under Mr Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama and briefly in the top job under Mr Trump before he sacked her.
“He wants a political crony to protect him from the investigation of his own campaign,” she said.
Neal Katyal and George Conway, two prominent Washington lawyers, wrote in The New York Times that Mr Trump was already breaking the law by appointing Mr Whitaker without Senate confirmation.
The rushed appointment “is unconstitutional. It’s illegal. And it means that anything Mr Whitaker does, or tries to do, in that position is invalid,” they argued.
In cities nationwide protestors took to the streets urging Congress to protect Mr Mueller’s probe.
“Matthew Whitaker has criticised Robert Mueller’s investigation again and again,” said Noah Bookbinder at a park near the White House, where some 500 demonstrators had gathered as part of the “Nobody Is Above The Law” protests.
“He’s called it a lynch mob,” said Bookbinder, head of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a Washington group. “He said it should be shut down.”
“Congress has to step in, and protect this investigation.”
Mr Trump said on Wednesday that the midterms, where Democrats won the House of Representatives and Republicans held the Senate, meant both sides would have to learn bipartisanship.
But, if anything, the election aftermath has featured even hotter controversy than before, whether over Mr Mueller or Mr Trump’s other favorite bugbear — the media.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Mr Trump branded CNN reporter Jim Acosta an “enemy of the people” when he posed questions, including about the Russia probe, and refused to give up the mic.
The row, carried live on national TV networks, was followed by Mr Trump issuing angry put-downs to several other reporters. Shortly after, the White House took the extremely rare measure of revoking Acosta’s press pass.
On Thursday, the Acosta incident entered even more bizarre territory when the White House was accused of tweeting a video doctored to make the reporter appear more aggressive in fending off the female press aide who tried to remove his mic.
Answering allegations on Thursday that the White House had used a clip edited by a notorious right-wing conspiracy theorist, Trump spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said: “We stand by our statement.”
Spats between Mr Trump and journalists can sometimes seem circus-like, but critics say the president’s hot temper illustrates his deeper disdain for Washington norms — and allegedly for the rule of law.
Those concerns are now focused on the future of the Mueller probe, which began as a look into alleged links with Russians seeking to disrupt the election and expanded into an investigation of billionaire Trump’s murky finances, including his business ties to Russia.
As Mr Mueller has gotten closer to the heart of the Trump family’s closely guarded financial secrets, the president has become more enraged.