Sessions
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is doing everything he can to pursue the “Trump Agenda.” From his hardline stand on immigration as one of the prime advocates for child separation at the border, to moving the Justice Department away from civil rights enforcement, to refusing to look at criminal justice reform proposed by the Congress; Sessions is using his term at the helm of Justice to radically turn America to the right.
He, at the minimum, misled the Senate in his confirmation hearing about his contact with Russian officials during the Trump campaign: many would say he lied. He has consistently refused information to Congress, even to his former Republican Senate colleagues, whining out, “…I don’t recall…” as only an Alabaman can say it. He is no hero to the “resistance.”
But he has been battered by President Trump, in interviews and with his famous tweets, excoriating Sessions for recusing himself in the Russia investigation. Trump has called on Sessions to resign, and stated that his appointment as Attorney General was a mistake. Sessions, clearly achieving a lifelong goal by serving at the helm of Justice, has steadfastly refused to quit. Yesterday he even responded to the President’s barbs, by claiming that “his” Justice Department would not be “politicized.”
This is the one area where Sessions has risen above the political swamp of the Trump Administration. Realizing that his Senate confirmations answers and Russian contacts compromised his ability to supervise an investigation, he removed himself from leadership. He recused himself, turning over oversight of the Russia inquiry to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. And Rosenstein, after the firing of FBI Director James Comey, brought former Director Robert Mueller in as Special Counsel.
President Trump has continually threatened to fire Sessions and put a new Attorney General in, one not recused from supervising Mueller. When this came up a year ago, leading Republican Senators, including Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and leading member Lindsey Graham, warned the President not to do it. They stood with Sessions.
Yesterday they both made it clear that their minds have changed, both opening the door to supporting the President in finding a new Attorney General. And while it still doesn’t have total Republican support in the Senate, with Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn still supporting Sessions, the idea firing is gaining momentum.
So why would the President replace an Attorney General who is doing more than almost anyone else to advance his agenda? It isn’t about Sessions, it’s about Mueller.
Logic would say, that if Trump fires Sessions, Rosenstein, second-in-command at Justice, would become the interim Attorney General until a new one is confirmed by the Senate. But there is an obscure provision that would allow the President to make a different interim appointment.
We saw a similar action when Richard Cordray resigned as Director of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. Upon leaving, Cordray appointed his deputy, Leandra English, as acting director until the Senate confirmed a replacement. President Trump exercised his authority under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act to appoint a different interim director. Under that law, as long as the appointment held a similar Senate confirmed position in the Administration then he could be moved to fill the vacancy. It was a “musical chairs” moment: Mick Mulvaney Director of the Office of Management and Budget was added as Director of the CFPB.
So firing Sessions would not automatically lead to a Rosenstein promotion. It was theorized that one of the reasons that corrupt EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt stayed in office through so many scandals, was he law degree (University of Tulsa) and history as Oklahoma’s Attorney General. He looked like the perfect interim appointment. However Pruitt’s corruption finally couldn’t be tolerated.
If Trump fired Sessions now, who could the President choose to serve as interim replacement. He would need someone of cabinet level, with the prerequisite legal background to make the shift seem “appropriate.” There is only one.
He is a graduate of Harvard Law School (highly valued by the President,) and clerked for conservative Supreme Court Justice Alito. He served as US Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, a US Attorney in Florida, and a member of the National Labor Relations Board in the GW Bush administration. He is Alexander Acosta (no relations to CNN’s Jim), currently Secretary of Labor; and with the current conflict over Sessions he is on the “hot seat.”
Where he stands on any of the issues regarding the Mueller investigation, we don’t know. Whether he would accept the job, we don’t know either. But he’s in the right position, and because he is, Trump has an alternative to Sessions, and to Rosenstein.
If a new, “unrecused” Attorney General, even an interim, was appointed, Rosenstein would no longer supervise the Mueller team. A new Attorney General could throttle the investigation, or fire Mueller. The President would demand it, and the Senate couldn’t prevent it.
A year ago it was clear that this would be a “threshold” moment, when the Republican Senate, even the silenced Leader McConnell, would stand against the President. Today as the crisis grows, Trump still has moves, and the Republicans in the Senate are divided. Acosta may well refuse to jump into this fire, but the will of the President is a powerful force to resist.
Sessions stands with Rosenstein and Mueller, and we stand on the brink of the crisis. To quote Alexander Hamilton, it is time for the Senate Republicans to “Rise Up.”
