May 13, 2017Gronda Morin

aside An Ethics Watchdog Group Has Filed A Complaint Against Jeff Sessions

Image result for IMAGES OF TRUMP AND COMEY
Trump/ Comey

Originally on 5/9/17, as the story of the republican President Donald Trump’s firing of the FBI Director James Come became public knowledge. we the people,” the “see me now voters,” were expected to buy at face value that Rod Rosenstein’s superior, the US Attorney General Jeff Sessions did not have to recuse himself for intervening in this firing event because whatever happened, had absolutely no connection to the FBI’s inquiry into Russia’s shenanigans regarding US politics.

Until sometime on 5/11/17, the White House’s talking points were delivered along the lines, that the president was forced to act in response to a critical memo about the FBI Director Comey, penned by the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (2 weeks on the job) and the recommendation to fire the FBI director by the US Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

As this story-line kept being challenged on several fronts, by the early evening of 5/11/17, the president’s narrative adapted to a tale resembling the truth. The president has admitted that he wanted to speed up the FBI investigations into Russia’s interference with the 2016 presidential elections along with a review of any possible coordination between the president, his associates and Russian operatives, with the intent to influence the outcome.

Since the US Attorney General Jeff Sessions had publicly committed to recuse himself from any activities having anything to do with the DOJ’s and the FBI’s inquiries into the Trump/ Russian saga, what was he doing being a party in the decision making with the president to dismiss the FBI director? And what is the US Attorney General Sessions doing in interviewing those who could possibly replace Director Comey, as this new hire would be expected to continue the investigation of the Trump/ Russia saga?

The Attorney General Jeff Sessions was supposed to recuse himself from anything having to do with the FBI/ DOJ’s  probe into Russia’s intervening in US politics. Mr. Sessions took this stance after it had been made public that he did not come clean about his meetings with Russian officials while he was a part of the president’s campaign team when he was under oath during the US Senate confirmation hearings. His statements issued during this time frame had to be amended to reflect the truth.

Image result for images of Fred Wertheimer
Fred Wertheimer

An Ethics Watchdog group is asking the same questions. Here is the rest of the story…

On 5/12/17, Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post penned the following report, “Watchdog group alleges Sessions violated recusal rule in firing of Comey:”

An ethics watchdog group filed a complaint against Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday alleging that his participation in the firing of FBI Director James b. Comey violated Justice Department rules and Sessions’s promise to recuse himself from matters involving Russia.

“Firing the lead investigator is the most extreme form of interfering with an investigation,” wrote Fred Wertheimer, who signed the six-page complaint on behalf of his organization, Democracy 21.

Image result for images of jeff sessions“The filing asked the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility to investigate the matter and issue a public report — and to take additional action.

“Immediately, we call on OPR to take all necessary steps to ensure that the Attorney General withdraws from any participation in the selection of an interim or permanent Director of the FBI,” the complaint said.

“When President Trump fired Comey on Tuesday (5/9/17), he announced that he had consulted with Sessions and the department’s No. 2 official, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein.”

Image result for IMAGES OF TRUMP AND COMEY“Wertheimer, who has worked on ethics issues since the Watergate scandal, said the attorney general’s participation in the Comey firing violated Justice Department rules requiring staffers to recuse themselves from any criminal inquiry in which they have a “personal or political relationship.”

“He pointed out that Sessions is a potential subject of a Russia inquiry since he met with the Russian ambassador in 2016. In addition, the complaint notes that during his Senate confirmation hearings Sessions agreed to recuse himself from “any investigations into Hillary Clinton’s emails.”

“The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on the complaint Friday. Filing such a grievance with the Office of Professional Responsibility does not guarantee that the department will respond. In late February, Democracy 21 filed a complaint stating that the attorney general was failing to meet department recusal standards by not announcing he would not participate in campaign-related inquiries.”

Image result for images of jeff sessions“Two days after that Feb. 27 filing, the attorney general issued a statement announcing that he would recuse himself from “any matters arising from the campaign for President of the United States. “

“Until his dismissal this week, Comey oversaw the FBI inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether there was any coordination between Russian actors and the Trump campaign or associates.”

“Separately, Democracy 21 sent a letter to Rosenstein urging him “to appoint a Special Counsel to oversee the Russia investigation” and to take steps to ensure that Sessions plays no role in selecting Comey’s successors.”

25 comments

  1. Very informative post, my friend! Let us hope there are some people with integrity left who have the ability to take Sessions out of the process altogether. This investigation must go forward, more so now than ever, because the smoke screen the administration is throwing up confirms that there is more to this tangled web than we first thought. Thank you for this information!

    Hugs!!!

    Liked by 1 person

    • I agree putting that racist little hobbit Jeff sessions in charge of anything is beyond wrong!! He’s paid by big Pharma to Head the ridiculous war on Cannabis! Jeff Sessions is the one who needs to be fired!! He says “Good people don’t smoke marijuana” how can somebody possibly be so closed minded! He’s not! He’s not dumb either, he’s just greedy and will side with whoever offers him the most money….

      #firejeffsessions

      Liked by 2 people

      • Dear CaseySims_LivinWithParalysis,

        Welcome!

        Jeff Sessions has lied under oath when he said he had no meetings with Russian officials during 2016 campaign season at his US Senate confirmation hearings; and he has gone back on his word to the American peoples to recuse himself from the Trump/ Russian probe. He is an alt-right (White Supremacist) believer.

        And he is a sanctimonious idiot when he talks against cannibals, science, climate change etc.

        It sounds like you’ve got his number.

        Thanks for stopping by and Hugs, Gronda

        Liked by 1 person

      • My biggest concern about Sessions is that he is a proven racist, homophobic bigot, and he is, apparently, Trump’s ‘yes-man’. We need an Attorney General who is impartial and not afraid to take a stand, even if is in opposition to the president.

        Liked by 2 people

  2. Reblogged this on Filosofa's Word and commented:
    Having Jeff Sessions interview candidates to replace FBI Director James Comey is a classic case of putting the fox in charge of the hen house. But there are efforts afoot to remove Sessions from the process, as fellow-blogger & friend Gronda has discovered. Please take a few moments to read her excellent post! Thank you, Gronda, for this valuable information and permission to share!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Jill,

      Let’s pray that Jeff Sessions is blocked from having anything to do with the Trump/ Russian Saga inquiry by the FBI.

      As always, thanks a million times over for the great write-up, your support and for this reblog.

      Hugs, Gronda

      Liked by 1 person

      • Yes, Sessions cannot be part of the process, but then, the very fact that Trump will be nominating the new Director makes it highly unlikely that we will see somebody who is fair, honest, or has integrity. Sigh.

        Hugs!

        Liked by 1 person

  3. I’m learning a great deal about the complexities of the American governmental system and also having an interesting insight into the current administration.
    Here is the thing that puzzles me. Since this administration knew there would be an amount of vocal and constitutional opposition, and there was a very narrow victory the logical course of action, in a democracy would be to go on a charm offensive to win over people and also ensure at least a façade of stability and unity. And yet I see no evidence of this.
    I have said it before but it bears repeating….Amateurs.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Roger,

      What you are saying is perfectly sane and sensible but the president will never be blessed with those attributes.

      What you are witnessing from across the pond is a US president whose sanity is questionable. But there are those around him who are enabling him which includes the republican US lawmakers. What this amounts to is that “we the people” who are paying the taxes for this display of craziness are the children who are just trying to survive these dark times.

      There is nothing normal, logical or sane about what is happening to our country.

      Ciao, Gronda

      Liked by 1 person

      • As I suspected Gronda.
        There are however certain powerful and often subtle forces at work within the dynamics of governance. Whereas these can be put on temporary hold in a small dictatorship, within a very large nation with a history of free-thinking these dynamics are far too strong. They shake loose all manner of circumstances and situtaions for all manners of reasons
        The current administration would do well to reflect on this; they are not making – they are reacting; they do not have current control of the Overall- they are being swept up in its tides.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. I’ve never seen such flagrant disregard for the Constitution, the rule of law, national security and the traditions of American Democracy. Nihilism and demonizing those who hold reasonably different political opinions is not how we keep our nation great, much less functional.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Rob,

      He is not even trying to look like he cares about doing what’s right anymore. You noticed that he fired Mr Comey one day to curtail the Trump / Russian probe but the next day he had invited the Russians over, one of whom is directly involved in all of this mess, Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. And it was no accident that Rex Tillerson and Henry Kissinger were present.

      Then the US press was locked out while TASS was permitted to be present. The reason that this is important, is if DDT, Rex Tillerson, said anything untoward, with TASS not having been checked for surveillance appliances, then whatever was said is now on tape to be used as leverage by Russia.

      This firing mess and his threatening tweets pertaining to Mr. Comey is a shocker. I can’t wait to see Mr. Comey testify in an open hearing session where he has been subpoenaed. He needs the appearance of this formality to feel free to answer questions by the Senate Intel members.

      Hugs, Gronda

      Liked by 1 person

      • Based on my limited knowledge of covert operations it seems Putin’s clumsy attack on our political system is succeeding beyond his original expectations. I hope I’m wrong, but Trump’s coup is consolidating power while our legal system dithers over the obvious.

        It’s deeply distressing to know that our law enforcement agencies had enough evidence before and after the election to prevent Trump from taking office.

        Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Rob,

      Our US Constitution is under attack.

      This is what I RECENTLY wrote to CarolMayWY:

      Rod Rosenstein will not be respected in his current workplace, and he’ll eventually figure this out to where he’ll resign.

      His way out, is not pretty, but he needs to apologize to his coworkers etc. Then he needs to appoint a competent, non partition person of integrity as a special prosecutor before he resigns. This is what a man of honor would do to protect the interests of this country.

      If he does not take this high road, by definition, he is not trustworthy.

      It is important to note that previous IC leaders like Gen. Hayden and Mr. Clapper who hate the concept of the “special prosecutor, are rethinking their stance. On C-span Gen. Hayden publicly admitted that he has had to question his bias in this case. Mr. Clapper said at a cyber-security US Senate hearing. THAT THERE HAS TO BE AN INDEPENDENT BODY OF SOME SORT to get to the bottom of Russia’s attack on our 2016 presidential election because of its importance to US national security.This is an important development because these peoples do have sway with key republican legislators like Senator McCain.

      Liked by 1 person

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