Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., believes President Trump has the right to feel “betrayed” by Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
“People have a legitimate right, the president has a legitimate right to say that he was betrayed, just like Jeff Sessions betrayed us,” Rohrabacher told CNN on Friday.
Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher: “Jeff Sessions betrays the people who have had faith in him … the President has a legitimate right to say that he was betrayed” https://t.co/ToMVq1yEvr— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) January 5, 2018
Sessions in March announced his recusal from the Russia probe after it was revealed he didn’t disclose conversations with then-Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak that occurred in 2016.
After Sessions recused himself, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein selected Robert Mueller to serve as special counsel to oversee the Russia investigation.
Trump has publicly and privately vented about Sessions’ decision to recuse himself, and the president reportedly instructed White House counsel Don McGahn last year to talk the attorney general out of doing so.
Rohrabacher said Sessions knew he was “setting in motion the establishment of a special prosecutor” when he announced his recusal from the Russia probe, and said the attorney general didn’t have any “real reason” to step down from the investigation.
The California congressman also accused Sessions of betraying those who were confident in him.
“The American people now are getting a taste of what people in Washington have known over this last year, and that is Jeff Sessions betrays the people who have had faith in him — faith in him to do his job and faith in him not to succumb to pressures from the outside, like from CNN and other news bureaus to try to do their bidding,” Rohrabacher said.
Sessions is facing calls from top conservative lawmakers to step down for what they perceive as a lack of control over the Justice Department that stems from his recusal from the Russia probe.
