Thread: The attorney general is not the president’s lawyer

The attorney general is not the president’s lawyer

by Erin Dunne
| August 15, 2018 08:41 AM



On Tuesday, President Trump tweeted his anger at U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying, in reference to the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert Muller: “If we had a real Attorney General, this Witch Hunt would never have been started. Looking at the wrong people.”

This isn’t the first time that Trump has expressed his anger with Sessions, who recused himself from the investigation into the Russian interference in the 2016 election. Indeed, the president said previously that had he known that Sessions would recuse himself, he would have “put a different attorney general in.”

In an interview with the New York Times in 2017, Trump took personal issue with Sessions’ decision saying that recusing himself “was very unfair to the president.”





The problem with all of this is that Trump doesn’t seem to understand the role of the U.S. attorney general. The AG is not the president’s lawyer but the country’s. That means that the attorney general does not defend the president but, instead, represents the country in legal matters.

This seems to be a distinction that is lost on the president who first sought to prevent Sessions from recusing himself and, after he did, has endlessly berated Sessions for not properly showing loyalty.

To be clear, Sessions had good reason to recuse himself, and he was right to do so. He faced a flood of criticism, including concerns from Republican leadership, over his own previously undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States during the Trump campaign. Since then, Sessions has defended his decision, citing regulations from the Department of Justice, which is led by the attorney general, that forbid DOJ officials from investigating campaigns they worked on.

Although there is plenty to disagree with Jeff Sessions on, on this matter he is correct and President Trump would do well to remember why.

If Trump is right that his campaign did nothing wrong, then the last thing the president would want is the findings of the investigation to be tainted and thus viewed as illegitimate. Given Sessions' own involvement with the Trump campaign and his contacts with Russia, he could not credibly exonerate the president.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/o...sidents-lawyer

No the Attorney General is not the President's Attorney. But when you take a job, claiming to be in charge of everything, then the very next day, recuse yourself from a major case citing conflict of interest, then appoint someone with even more conflicts of interest to take your place, you didn't do good!

Donald Trump Continues Taunting Jeff Sessions for ‘Double Standard’

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Jessica Kourkounis/AFP via Getty24 Aug 20181,551President Donald Trump continued battling publicly with Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday, suggesting he was not enforcing the law fairly.

Sessions responded to Trump in a statement Friday, outlining that he would not allow political considerations to “improperly influence” investigations.


“Jeff, this is GREAT,” Trump wrote on Twitter, “What everyone wants, so look into all of the corruption on the ‘other side’ including deleted Emails, Comey lies & leaks, Mueller conflicts, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA abuse, Christopher Steele & his phony and corrupt Dossier, the Clinton Foundation, illegal surveillance of Trump Campaign, Russian collusion by Dems – and so much more.”
Trump asked Sessions for more transparency for law enforcement investigations leveled against his campaign.


“Open up the papers & documents without redaction?” Trump asked. “Come on Jeff, you can do it, the country is waiting!”


Trump suggested that Sessions was letting his former campaign opponent Hillary Clinton off easy, regarding her private email account pointing to ex-NSA contractor Reality Winner’s 63-month prison sentence for leaking private government documents.


“Gee, this is ‘small potatoes’ compared to what Hillary Clinton did!” Trump wrote. “So unfair Jeff, Double Standard.”

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump







“Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.” Jeff, this is GREAT, what everyone wants, so look into all of the corruption on the “other side” including deleted Emails, Comey lies & leaks, Mueller conflicts, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr......

6:17 AM - Aug 24, 2018

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Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump







....FISA abuse, Christopher Steele & his phony and corrupt Dossier, the Clinton Foundation, illegal surveillance of Trump Campaign, Russian collusion by Dems - and so much more. Open up the papers & documents without redaction? Come on Jeff, you can do it, the country is waiting!

6:28 AM - Aug 24, 2018

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  27.7K people are talking about this

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Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump







Ex-NSA contractor to spend 63 months in jail over “classified” information. Gee, this is “small potatoes” compared to what Hillary Clinton did! So unfair Jeff, Double Standard.

7:10 AM - Aug 24, 2018

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Originally Posted by stoptheinvaders

Trump suggested that Sessions was letting his former campaign opponent Hillary Clinton off easy, regarding her private email account

Wow! It was you, Donald J. Trump saying "She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways,"

I haven't forgotten, and I never will.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkpvCfwv22I

Trump is right, there's no debating it. Sessions should have either not recused himself, since there's absolutely no reason to have done so, or for whatever reason he thinks there is, then he should have told Trump that before Trump nominated him and nominated Sessions for another position like Secretary of DHS. That's where Trump wanted him to be in the first place because of Sessions strong stance against illegal immigration.

Anyway, it's a shame what's gone on and there's no one to blame but Sessions because he let Rosenstein run with it doing all the wrong things to wage a horrible Witch Hunt against truly one of our most treasured free speech rights which is to participate in campaigns to elect our Presidents.

Originally Posted by Judy

Anyway, it's a shame what's gone on and there's no one to blame but Sessions

Did Sessions force Trump to say "She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways,"

Originally Posted by stoptheinvaders

Did Sessions force Trump to say "She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways,"

Unfortunately, being all over the board is nothing new for President Trump. A very inconsistent man. He was the same way during his presidential campaign on immigration.

The following video is over a year old but it still holds true today:

Originally Posted by stoptheinvaders

Did Sessions force Trump to say "She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways,"

What does that have to do with the Mueller investigation against Trump and his supporters?

Originally Posted by Judy

What does that have to do with the Mueller investigation against Trump and his supporters?

I'd say it's about Trump saying, right after his election, he had no interest in going after Hillary. He said she had suffered enough. Now Trump's attacking Jeff Sessions for not prosecuting Hillary. To that I say, wow. Trump's inconsistency is something to behold.