“Our beleaguered A.G.” certainly does seem beleaguered right now. After being publicly dressed-down in a series of tweets by the man he rented his good name to during the Republican primaries last year, Attorney General Jeff Sessions looks to be near the end of his rope. According to new Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, Sessions might be next on the list of people President Trump wants on the receiving end of his signature catchphrase “You’re fired!”
Though Jeff Sessions seems like an awfully decent guy, well-liked by his former Senate colleagues and constituents, I can think of a number of reasons to fire our mutual friend from Alabama. He hasn’t exactly run a tight ship at the Justice Department – the Titanic had fewer leaks.
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His recent decision to strengthen civil asset forfeiture (a.k.a. legal property theft) is atrocious. Sessions’ rollback of minor civil forfeiture reform from the Obama era means that police can seize and sell property that they think might be involved in a crime – somehow with even more impunity than the practice has been used in recent years. His surge in the War on Drugs quagmire seems ill-advised at best – “getting tough” on non-violent drug related offenses has done little to curb drug use and keeps prisons full of non-violent offenders.
Few seem to care how bad his policies are. What matters is the Russia investigation, and Sessions has played a key role in that saga. His silly meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, where Sessions addressed a group of ambassadors while old Sergei was also present (diabolically), eventually led him to recuse himself from the Russia investigation altogether.
The President didn’t appreciate that. He said in an interview that he wouldn’t have hired Sessions had he known he would recuse himself. You can read into that what you will. Without Sessions, the investigation fell to Jim Comey, and after he got the boot, to special counsel and former FBI Director Bob Mueller. Since then, Mueller’s ever widening probe has apparently been giving Trump fits. Also, Trump’s decision not to pursue charges against Hillary Clinton and associates can also be laid at the feet of Mr. Sessions, who Trump criticized recently in a tweet for being “VERY weak on Hillary Clinton crimes.”
And, naturally, the person most to blame for all of Trump’s troubles is… Sessions.
In all seriousness, the Attorney-General serves at the pleasure of the President. At this point, after publicly bashing Sessions via a number of tweets, in an interview, and through his Communications Director, Trump clearly doesn’t have faith in the man. Given the fact that Trump plucked the 70 year old from his plum Senate seat to serve as his A.G. about 7 months ago, that is unfortunate. At this point, however, it isn’t a choice between keeping Sessions and firing him. When you no longer trust your own Attorney General, you must either fire him or ask him to resign.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein looks like a competent man, though it is rumored that POTUS doesn’t like him either. It will be difficult to get any new Attorney General confirmed in a timely manner, judging by the tectonic pace of confirmations for Presidential nominees thus far. Democrats will gleefully and breathlessly proclaim a prelude to a new Saturday Night Massacre, not to mention that it would smell rotten to Russia investigation sleuths theorizing on Twitter.
These things are secondary though.
For the good of the government, the President can’t let somebody he thinks is a deadbeat hang around the Justice Department, stripped of all authority by his Commander-in-Chief. For the dignity of the office of Attorney General, the President ought to fire Jeff Sessions.
However, on the pink slip he hands to the poor guy, just below where he writes “DRAIN THE SWAMP,” he should write, “It’s not you; it’s me.”
