Jeff Sessions' biggest crime? Putting loyalty to his office above Trump

Jeff Sessions' biggest crime? Putting loyalty to his office above Trump | Lawrence Douglas

When Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe, he failed to keep investigators off the president’s tail. That was unpardonable in Trump’s eyes

In an act of unusual forbearance, President Trump waited a full 12 hours after the end of the midterm elections to sack Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Clearly the president had been itching to get rid of Sessions for months. No matter that Sessions had been one of Trump’s earliest and most vocal supporters, endorsing the then-candidate when no other Republican senator was willing to embrace the untethered reality TV star as a serious political force. But the early bromance quickly soured, and for most of his unhappy tenure at the helm of the Justice Department, Sessions became one of Trump’s favorite targets of ritualistic humiliation.

The offense? In March 2017, Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe when it emerged that he had misremembered certain meetings with the Russians during the campaign. Trump likes to claim he doesn’t hold grudges – witness his recent campaigning for “lyin’ Ted” Cruz – but Sessions’ act was unpardonable. In recusing himself, the attorney general took control of the Russia probe out of the hands of a Trump loyalist, and handed it to Rod Rosenstein, where it remained until today.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2FaJafR

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