Last Wednesday, President Trump made a shocking statement about Jeff Sessions, the current Attorney General: the US President told the New York Times he regrets the decision to appoint Sessions! He said Sessions shouldn’t have recused himself in the ongoing investigation regarding the connection between the Trump campaign and Russia. In addition, Trump also stated he’d have picked someone else for the job if he knew this would happen.
Sessions was one of the President’s greatest public supporters when Trump announced his intention to run for the position. He also appeared with Trump in rallies quite often, which makes this admission even more of a surprise. The President added he was suspicious that Session’s decision was largely triggered by Robert Mueller’s appointment as special counsel in the Russian investigation. Mueller’s appointment came just weeks after Trump had fired FBI director James Comey - who was leading the investigation on Russia.
At the time, there was a feeling among Democrats - and other analysts - that the President had acted prejudicially to obstruct Coney’s investigation. Even though Trump himself has dismissed these claims, there were reports soon after Comey was fired which said Trump had met with Russian officials and stated he had fired the “nut job” Comey. Trump was also quoted saying Comey’s dismissal had lifted huge pressure out of his shoulder.
Ever since Mueller took over the investigation there has been an increasing number of headlines making revelations about Trump’s coworkers. The most recent ones are related to the release of emails by Donald Trump Jr. regarding a meeting with the Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. It’s believed she had information about Hilary Clinton that could help Trump in his quest to take the White House.
However, the President has made it clear there was no collusion and termed the investigation as a mere “witch hunt”. Trump also accused Mueller and his team of a potential conflict of interest. In addition, The Times reported Trump said the investigation could cross a “red line” if indeed they started looking into his family’s finances beyond the scope of the Russian meddling investigation.
Mueller’s investigation seems to be piling up controversial information and the curiosity relies on how close it gets to the President. Even though the special counsel reports to the deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, there’s still the possibility where the President could send an order to the Justice Department and have Mueller removed!
In spite of the bad signal this would send to those who still give Trump the benefit of doubt, it’s definitely not beyond him to make the call. James Comey’s firing in the middle of this investigation is proof that the President was willing to take action in case anyone got in his way. Nonetheless, the Russian investigation continues and it seems more revelations are still to come.
