Tag: Jeff Sessions

Trump privately revived the idea of firing Sessions this month, according to people familiar with the discussions

The following article by Carol D. Leonnig, Josh Dawsey and Gabriel Pogrund was posted on the Washington Post website August 28, 2018:

President Trump once again attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Sessions hit back by saying the Justice Department will not be politically influenced. (Reuters)

President Trump, who levied extraordinary public attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions in recent weeks, has privately revived the idea of firing him in conversations with his aides and personal lawyers this month, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

His attorneys concluded that they have persuaded him — for now — not to make such a move while the special-counsel investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign is ongoing, the people said.

But there is growing evidence that Senate Republicans, who have long cautioned Trump against firing Sessions, are now resigned to the prospect that he may do so after the November midterm elections — a sign that one of the last remaining walls of opposition to such a move is crumbling.

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Critics fear Trump’s attacks are doing lasting damage to the justice system

The following article by Felicia Sonmez, Josh Dawsey and Ann E. Marimow was posted on the Washington Post website August 23, 2018:

President Trump once again attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Sessions hit back by saying the Justice Department will not be politically influenced. (Reuters)

President Trump took his criticism of the criminal justice system to new heights Thursday, prompting alarm from national security and law enforcement officials who fear the president is seeking to protect himself from encroaching investigations at the expense of lasting damage to ­institutions.

In a “Fox & Friends” interview aired Thursday, Trump argued it “almost ought to be illegal” for “flippers” to get plea deals in exchange for testimony — a reference to his former attorney, Michael Cohen, who implicated Trump this week in a scheme to cover up alleged affairs before the 2016 election. The president also lashed out at Attorney General Jeff Sessions for not “taking over” the Justice Department and praised his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who was convicted of eight felonies by a federal jury in Alexandria, Va., this week.

The sense of crisis was amplified by Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who said in a Thursday interview with The Washington Post that the president had asked his legal team weeks ago for advice on pardoning Manafort and others facing investigation.

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Ben Sasse, Susan Collins Warn Trump About Firing Jeff Sessions

The following article by Niels Lesniewski was posted on the Roll Call website August 23, 2018:

Sen. Ben Sasse said he couldn’t envision voting for a new attorney general if Jeff Sessions is fired for doing his job. Credit: Bill Clark, CQ Roll Call file photo

Republican senators grew increasingly vocal in their warnings to President Donald Trump if he fires Attorney General Jeff Sessions, including threats not to vote for a replacement.

Sen. Ben Sasse came to the floor Thursday afternoon to read into the Congressional Record the statement that Sessions, a former Alabama senator well-liked by his former colleagues, issued in response to criticism from Trump.

Sessions was highlighting the independence of the Justice Department, and Sasse, a Nebraska Republican, wanted it to be perfectly clear that he would have the attorney general’s back.

Sessions fires back at Trump

The following article by Morgan Chalfant was posted on the Hill website August 23, 2018:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a rare statement Thursday said that the Justice Department “will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.”

In one of his toughest statements following criticism from President Trump, Sessions defended his leadership of the Justice Department, which has come under increasing attack from the president and his allies.

“While I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations. I demand the highest standards, and where they are not met, I take action,” Sessions said in a direct response to Trump’s interview on Fox.

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Fuming Trump Has Told Advisers He Wants Jeff Sessions to Have Omarosa Arrested: Report

The following article by Elizabeth Pena was posted on the AlterNet.org website August 16, 2018:

Fuming Trump Has Told Advisers He Wants Jeff Sessions to Have Omarosa Arrested: Report

Credit: AP Photo, Steve Helber

Donald Trump has told advisers he wants his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to have his former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman arrested, Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman reports.

According to Sherman, despite receiving advice from aides and his wife Melania Trump to “just ignore” Manigault Newman’s book tour, Trump has opted instead to attack and insult his former “Apprentice” co-star and confidante.

Though it’s unclear which law the president believes Manigault Newman broke, a former West Wing official told Sherman that Trump’s reaction is likely rooted in what he sees as “a personal betrayal.”

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Trump slams Sessions as “scared stiff”

The following article was posted on the Axios.com website August 11, 2018:

President Trump on Saturday blasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions for being “scared stiff and Missing in Action” in a tweet series questioning if there will be an Inspector General report about the Steele dossier, Steele’s meetings with former Deputy Attorney General, Bruce Ohr and Ohr’s wife, Nellie Ohr.

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

….Do you believe Nelly worked for Fusion and her husband STILL WORKS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF “JUSTICE.” I have never seen anything so Rigged in my life. Our A.G. is scared stiff and Missing in Action. It is all starting to be revealed – not pretty. IG Report soon? Witch Hunt!

Twitter Ads info and privacy

Behind the scenes: Sessions doesn’t use Twitter and has no TV in his office. Sources who work for him tell Axios’ Jonathan Swan he tries as best he can to tune out Trump’s attacks. They seemed to genuinely bother him at first but over time aides said it appeared he’d grown desensitized to them. If Sessions has thought again about resigning — early on he wrote a resignation letter for Trump and it was rejected — he’s kept very close-lipped about it.

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Judge halts mother-daughter deportation, threatens to hold Sessions in contempt

The following article by Arelis R. Hernándz was posted on the Washington Post website August 9, 2018:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions restated his zero tolerance policy for illegal entry from the border with Mexico on June 11. Credit: Reuters

A federal judge in Washington halted a deportation in progress Thursday and threatened to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt after learning that the Trump administration started to remove a woman and her daughter while a court hearing appealing their deportations was underway.

“This is pretty outrageous,” U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said after being told about the removal. “That someone seeking justice in U.S. court is spirited away while her attorneys are arguing for justice for her?”

“I’m not happy about this at all,” the judge continued. “This is not acceptable.”

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The ACLU is suing Jeff Sessions over the Trump administration’s asylum policies

The following article by Brianna Provenzano was posted on the Mic.com website August 8, 2018:

The American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Gender and Refugee Studies filed suit Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C., contesting the Trump administration’s evisceration of protections for asylum seekers.

The lawsuit, Grace v. Sessions, specifically calls into question policies enacted by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in June that seek to ramp up deportations and expedite removal proceedings for immigrants.

Under the new rules, asylum officers are encouraged to categorize petitions citing credible “fears of domestic abuse or gang violence” as “personal circumstances,” which do not automatically constitute eligibility for asylum.

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Trump to Jeff Sessions: End the Mueller investigation “right now”

The following article by Zachary Basu was posted on the Axios website August 1, 2018:

President Trump called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to put a stop to the Mueller investigation in a tweet Wednesday morning.

‘This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!”

Between the lines, from Axios’ Jonathan Swan: This isn’t a directive to Sessions, based on my last conversation with Rudy Giuliani. If Trump wanted to end the Mueller investigation, he could. He knows Congress would rise up against him.

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GOP-led House committee rebuffs Trump administration on immigrant asylum claim policy

The following article by Seung Min Kim was posted on the Washington Post website July 26, 2018:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Credit: Alex Brandon, AP

A GOP-led House committee delivered a rebuke of the Trump administration’s immigration policies this week — an unusual bipartisan move that may ultimately spell trouble for must-pass spending measures later this year.

The powerful House Appropriations Committee passed a measure that would essentially reverse Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s guidance earlier this year that immigrants will not generally be allowed to use claims of domestic or gang violence to qualify for asylum. The provision was adopted as part of a larger spending bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security, an already contentious measure because of disputes over funding for President Trump’s border wall.

But one influential Senate Republican and ally of the White House warned that keeping the asylum provision could sink the must-pass funding bill, and other conservatives who support a tougher line on immigration began denouncing it Thursday.

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