Trump faces wrenching call on Moore
November 15, 2017 by admin
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President Donald Trump is returning from Asia to a political maelstrom in the United States — one that could force him to decide whether to push out Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a Hail Mary attempt to save the Alabama Senate seat Sessions once held.
Trump spoke with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell from Asia last week, and the Senate leader made an urgent plea: Please help push Moore out of the contest. On Monday, as a new female accuser emerged, the Republican leader discussed the Alabama situation with White House chief of staff John Kelly and Vice President Mike Pence. The conversation centered on tax reform, but the Senate Republican leader also proposed a dramatic idea: that Sessions run as a write-in candidate or be appointed to the seat he held for two decades.
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White House officials plan to convene a meeting to talk through their options soon, and Trump is widely expected to address the predicament publicly when he returns from abroad. In order for the president to get involved, some aides to the president say, he would need an airtight plan that limits his political exposure to any fallout.
It’s a vexing call for Trump. If he tries to pressure Moore out of the race, as some people close to the White House expect him to do, there’s no guarantee that the candidate will oblige. During the GOP nomination battle, Trump aggressively backed Moore’s opponent, appointed Sen. Luther Strange.
Moore, a former state Supreme Court justice who once defied a federal order to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from a state judicial building, may feel that he owes the president little.
Intervening in a race against the candidate backed by conservative activists could also be seen as at odds with Trump’s own insurgent campaign in 2016.
Some of the president’s most loyal backers in the conservative state were angered by his decision to get behind the establishment-friendly Strange and desperately want him to stay out of the race.
“The establishment did everything they could to destroy Trump, and we the people stood with him. It would be very disappointing to see Trump believe these lies and turn on a rock-solid conservative like Roy Moore,” said GOP state Rep. Ed Henry.
McConnell and his political team have other ideas. One option being batted around by the leader’s allies is having the state Republican Party withdraw Moore’s nomination and then have Sessions, an outsize figure in Alabama politics who served as senator for two decades, run as a write-in.
Speaking at a Wall Street Journal/CEO Council event in Washington on Tuesday, McConnell was explicit that Moore would likely face expulsion proceedings if he were to win. As for the write-in possibility, McConnell said any candidate would have to be “totally well-known and extremely popular.”
“The Alabamian who would fit that standard would be the attorney general,” McConnell said, referring to Sessions.
Several Republican senators have appealed to Sessions in the recent days, asking him to save them from the prospect of a Democrat taking over his old seat.
Sessions, however, has expressed a desire to stay on as attorney general, according to several people familiar with his thinking. And one White House official expressed concern that, in the event Moore would not withdraw, a Sessions bid would serve only to split the Republican vote and hand a win to Democratic candidate Doug Jones.
But Sessions could have little choice in the matter if Trump pressures him to return to the Senate.
Some Sessions allies believe that swooping in to save his old Senate seat would give him the chance to make a graceful exit from his current role, where his relationship with the president has soured. He has stood by as Trump has publicly derided him for recusing himself from the Justice Department’s Russia investigation.
In recent days, Sessions has privately expressed dismay at how much of a mess the race for his old seat has become, said one person close to him.
Appearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, the attorney general said he trusted the accounts of Moore’s accusers.
“I have no reason to doubt these young women,” he told the panel.
Since the allegations surfaced on Thursday, the White House has been quietly examining its options. Counselor Kellyanne Conway has been in touch with Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s office to discuss possible paths forward. And political director Bill Stepien has spoken with Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel.
On Tuesday, the RNC withdrew its support from Moore.
There’s frustration with McConnell in some corners of the White House. Three administration officials said the leader erred by publicly calling for Moore to drop out, saying all it did was give the beleaguered candidate more grist to portray himself as a victim of a Republican Party establishment trying to run him out of the race.
McConnell openly acknowledged Tuesday the jam he and other Republicans are in. A Moore loss would shrink the party’s already slim Senate majority. But a write-in candidacy would be a long shot, and expelling Moore once he’s seated could trigger an uprising on the right.
“I’d like to save the seat, and it’s a heck of dilemma,” he said. “It’s a very tough situation.”
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Sessions resists GOP pressure on Clinton probe
November 15, 2017 by admin
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Attorney General Jeff SessionsJefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsCurtis wins Chaffetz’s former Utah House seat Overnight Cybersecurity: What we learned from Carter Page’s House Intel testimony | House to mark up foreign intel reform law | FBI can’t access Texas shooter’s phone | Sessions to testify at hearing amid Russia scrutiny FBI can’t unlock Texas shooter’s phone MORE on Tuesday resisted calls from Republicans that he appoint a second special counsel to investigate a slate of conservative allegations related to former Secretary of State Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonGOP rushes to cut ties to Moore Papadopoulos was in regular contact with Stephen Miller, helped edit Trump speech: report Bannon jokes Clinton got her ‘ass kicked’ in 2016 election MORE.
In a marathon appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, the pressure the former Alabama senator faces from his own party and the White House was at the forefront even as he endured tough questions from Democrats.
The most memorable exchange of the day came when Sessions told a testy Rep. Jim JordanJames (Jim) Daniel JordanGOP criticism of tax bill grows, but few ready to vote against it WATCH: Bipartisan support grows to rein in government surveillance law GOP rep: Trump did not make a ‘good deal’ on debt ceiling MORE (R-Ohio), a leading voice among House conservatives, that it would take “a factual basis that meets the standard of a special counsel” for the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor.
“We will use the proper standards and that’s the only thing I can tell you, Mr. Jordan,” Sessions said. “You can have your idea, but sometimes we have to study what the facts are and to evaluate whether it meets the standards it requires.”Sessions on Tuesday did not entirely close the door to a probe and later clarified that he had made no “prejudgment” on the need for a new special counsel.
He testified that he has directed senior Justice Department prosecutors to “evaluate” the concerns raised by conservatives — including whether any merit the appointment of a special counsel.
But it was apparent throughout the five-and-a-half-hour hearing that his refusal so far to appoint a special prosecutor is frustrating Republicans.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob GoodlatteRobert (Bob) William GoodlatteJuan Williams: The shame of Trump’s enablers GOP bill would ban abortions when heartbeat is detected Overnight Regulation: GOP flexes power over consumer agency | Trump lets states expand drone use | Senate panel advances controversial EPA pick | House passes bill to curb ‘sue-and-settle’ regs MORE (R-Va.) in his opening statement zeroed in on his own stymied demands for a special counsel — and Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from the Justice Department’s Russia probe, which has soured his relationship with President Trump.
“You have recused yourself from matters stemming from the 2016 election, but there are significant concerns that the partisanship of the FBI and the department has weakened the ability of each to act objectively,” Goodlatte said.
As special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has escalated, Sessions has come under pressure from Trump himself to take action against Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.
On Nov. 3, shortly before leaving for a nearly two-week trip to Asia, Trump told reporters that the Justice Department should be “looking at” Clinton and the Democrats.
Asked if he would fire Sessions if the Justice Department didn’t have agents investigate the Democratic National Committee, Trump responded, “I don’t know.”
“A lot of people are disappointed in the Justice Department, including me,” he said.
House Republicans have urged Justice to investigate putative wrongdoing by the Clinton Foundation, as well as the 2010 sale of a Toronto-based uranium company with U.S. holdings to a Russian state-owned firm — a sale Trump has also repeatedly highlighted.
They have also demanded a probe into how the Obama Justice Department handled the investigation into Clinton’s private email server, something the department’s inspector general is currently investigating.
Conservative media has amplified the pressure on Sessions, setting up a drumbeat of demands for a second special prosecutor.
It all made for a grueling day for the beleaguered attorney general. The sudden pressure from Republicans — along with hours of tough questions from Democrats on alleged discrepancies in his previous congressional testimonies — left Sessions on the defensive and highlighted his perilous standing in the administration.
The appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the president’s political opponents would almost certainly raise questions about the Justice Department’s political independence — something Sessions and the DOJ appear to be worried about.
“You must know the Department will never evaluate any matter except on the facts and the law,” Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote in a Monday letter alerting Goodlatte of the internal review. “Professionalism, integrity, and public confidence in the Department’s work is critical for us, and no priority is higher.”
Democrats have slammed even the suggestion of a new special counsel as a partisan move that reflected a dangerous acquiescence to political demands from the president.
Sessions rejected a fiery argument from Jordan that “it sure looks like a major political party was working with the federal government … so they could then get a warrant to spy on President Trump’s campaign.”
“I would say ‘looks like’ is not enough basis to appoint a special counsel,” Sessions said sharply.
He later said that the he “did not mean to suggest I was taking a side one way or the other on that subject.”
“I was simply responding that we would have to have full details before we made a decision on whether or not a special counsel is required,” he said.
While the internal review process Sessions revealed in the Monday letter could theoretically lead to the appointment of a new special counsel, it could also result in a recommendation from career attorneys to dismiss the matter — a notion that gained some steam after Tuesday’s testimony.
“I think this letter is best understood not as a hint to Trump that Sessions will do as the President wants, but as a way of shunting the matter to a mechanism that will enable him not to act,” noted Benjamin Wittes, a confidant of former FBI Director James Comey and editor of the national security blog Lawfare.
Should Justice move to open an investigation related to Clinton, it remains an open question whether Sessions would recuse himself, as he has done from the Mueller probe.
The attorney general during his confirmation hearing in the Senate committed to stepping aside from any investigations related to the Democratic presidential candidate.
“I believe the proper thing for me to do would be to recuse myself from any questions involving those kind of investigations that involve Secretary Clinton and that were raised during the campaign or to be otherwise connected to it,” he told Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck GrassleyCharles (Chuck) Ernest GrassleySenators push mandatory sexual harassment training for members, staff Senate panel to hold hearing on bump stocks, background checks Senate panel to hold hearing on bump stocks MORE (R-Iowa) at the time.
Grassley pressed him to clarify: “You intend to recuse yourself from both the Clinton email investigation and any matters involving the Clinton Foundation, if there are any?”
“Yes,” Sessions responded.
He declined to answer questions Tuesday regarding whether he has recused himself from any investigation related to Clinton, arguing that a yes-or-no answer would run afoul of Justice Department regulations requiring absolute silence about ongoing probes.
House Republicans are still moving forward with their own investigations in the wake of Trump’s clarion call that they “do something.”
Absent action from Justice, Goodlatte said Tuesday, his committee “had no choice” but to open their own investigation — announced late last month — into the department’s handling of the Clinton investigation.
But proponents of a special counsel still left Tuesday’s hearing dissatisfied.
“Last night, you sort of lean to the fact that they were genuinely considering a special counsel,” Jordan told The Hill after the hearing.
“After his — he seemed to get a little fired up when I was asking my questions — I tend to think they’re leaning against that,” he said.