Most of this has already been said in the press and on news commentary shows. The Attorney General is nominated by the president, serves at the pleasure of the president and may be fired by president at any time. The Department of Justice must at the same time conduct investigations independently of the president. AG Jeff Sessions, whether you like him or hate him, has focused on areas which are of high concern to President Trump- illegal immigrants in the US and drug trafficking. He is likely will prosecute anyone who illegally discloses information, when investigations yield compelling evidence.
Sessions has been attacked in tweets by Trump, who said he is very disappointed at the AG. Commentators believe he is trying to have Sessions resign rather than fire him.
The attorney general must be loyal to the Constitution and the rule of law. What Sessions won’t do, is make unwarranted accusations and use the Department for partisan purposes. He was involved in the election campaign of Donald Trump, so it is likely he had close contact with Paul Manafort and others under investigation. To his credit, he recused himself from the Russian investigation, so his activities could be investigated without any suggestion of impropriety. This strengthens the public perception of the integrity of the investigation.
Trump seems obsessed about leaks and the reporting of these leaks in the media. He wasn’t at all concerned about this when leaks were coming out on a daily basis on Hillary Clinton. Eric Holder had an active investigation on Julian Assange, who runs Wikileaks. If he ever steps in the US, hopefully he will be arrested. Charges against Edward Snowden have already been filed under the Obama administration. Should Snowden or Julian Assange ever step foot in the US, you can be sure that they will be prosecuted under the full force of the Justice Department.. It makes no difference if this occurs under a Democratic or Republican administration.
But, what Trump has in mind, is the chatter that goes on between White House insiders and the media. Also, as his popularity is sinking, he has revived the campaign promise to go after violations of the law of Hillary Clinton for disclosure of classified information. Similar attacks have been launch against FBI Director Comey. The Department of Justice has access to all the information gathered by the FBI, and if they feel there is a compelling case, with a reasonable chance of prevailing in their charges, I am sure Jeff Sessions will not hesitate for one minute to bring charges against Clinton or Comey. However, he will not use his office to make frivolous accusations against them. He will not turn the Department of Justice into a bully pulpit.
I can only surmise that the only reason the Department of Justice had not pressed charges, is because there is insufficient evidence of violation of the law. I have provided a link below on some myths about what is considered confidential information. One popular myth is that confidential information should be easily recognized by its subject matter alone and need not be so designated .
Trump was at the Boy Scout Jamboree, and treated it like some kind of campaign rally. The first two qualities in the Boy Scout oath are Trustworthy and Loyal. I believe both Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Comey through their decades of government service are exemplary of these qualities. They are loyal to the people’s representatives who through the ages, created and expanded the Justice Department and the FBI. No one made the government exempt in administrating their duties as this would undermine our democratic process. They were not going to allow the integrity be diminished by the political desires of the president of the United States.
Link on Jeff Sessions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Sessions
Stay tuned,
Dave
PS: Trump’s approval rating is 37% according to the latest Gallup poll.
news and views 