May 29, 2018
THE NUNES SCHOOL OF RECUSAL:
Trump Asked Sessions to Retain Control of Russia Inquiry After His Recusal (Michael S. Schmidt and Julie Hirschfeld Davis, May 29, 2018, NY Times)
By the time Attorney General Jeff Sessions arrived at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort for dinner one Saturday evening in March 2017, he had been receiving the presidential silent treatment for two days. Mr. Sessions had flown to Florida because Mr. Trump was refusing to take his calls about a pressing decision on his travel ban.When they met, Mr. Trump was ready to talk -- but not about the travel ban. His grievance was with Mr. Sessions: The president objected to his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Mr. Trump, who had told aides that he needed a loyalist overseeing the inquiry, berated Mr. Sessions and told him he should reverse his decision, an unusual and potentially inappropriate request.Mr. Sessions refused. [...]
Investigators have pressed current and former White House officials about Mr. Trump's treatment of Mr. Sessions and whether they believe the president was trying to impede the Russia investigation by pressuring him. The attorney general was also interviewed at length by Mr. Mueller's investigators in January. And of the four dozen or so questions Mr. Mueller wants to ask Mr. Trump, eight relate to Mr. Sessions. Among them: What efforts did you make to try to get him to reverse his recusal? [...]
To the president, no decision has proved more devastating during his time in office than Mr. Sessions's recusal. In Mr. Trump's view, Mr. Sessions, who had been one of his closest political allies and earliest prominent supporter in Washington, never would have appointed a special counsel, as the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, did last May after the president abruptly fired Mr. Comey.
Posted by Orrin Judd at May 29, 2018 9:32 PM