Sunday, November 11, 2018

Another Session of Russiagate

Jeff Session lingers in the news. From Da Caller's Chuck Ross: In Interview Just After Being Fired, Sessions Called Duration Of Mueller Probe ‘Unhealthy’ 
Sessions spoke to Wall Street Journal’s Judith Miller as he was leaving the Justice Department.

Sessions told Miller that he did not expect the Mueller probe would last as long as it has. And though he suggested the 18 month investigation has lasted too long, he said that “the country is committed to this course.”

He said that he is “confident” that the investigation is being handled “appropriately and with justification.”
Which may explain why he was gone so quickly after the midterms. Sessions realized too late that Whitaker was auditioning for his job
When things were particularly bad between President Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general's chief of staff, Matt Whitaker, would attend White House meetings in his place. But Sessions did not know that Whitaker at the same time was angling for a promotion.

Whitaker, who was installed at the Justice Department by powerful White House allies, "spoke and behaved like he was attorney general," a source with knowledge of the meetings said. Wednesday, Whitaker got the job when Trump made him acting attorney general.

Trump's move puts Whitaker in charge of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. It has also created new controversies, with legal experts debating about the legality of the appointment and news stories featuring his past criticisms of Mueller and defense of Trump. 
But will he get the nod for the full job? Stay tuned. If Rosenstein calls Whitaker a 'superb' choice for acting attorney general, I'm not so sure. Anything Rosenstein touches seems a little fishy to me.

And something I passed over yesterday as old news, from the NYPo James Comey discussed sensitive FBI business on his private email
Fired FBI chief James Comey used his private Gmail account hundreds of times to conduct government business — and at least seven of those messages were deemed so sensitive by the Justice Department that they declined to release them.

The former top G-man repeatedly claimed he only used his private account for “incidental” purposes and never for anything that was classified — and that appears to be true.

But Justice acknowledged in response to a Freedom of Information request that Comey and his chief of staff discussed government business on about 1,200 pages of messages, 156 of which were obtained by The Post.

The Cause of Action Institute, a conservative watchdog group, filed a Freedom of Information lawsuit for Comey’s Gmail correspondence involving his work for the bureau.

The Justice Department responded that there were an eye-popping 1,200 pages of messages for Comey and his chief of staff that met the criteria.

Justice released 156 of them but refused to hand over seven emails because they would “disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions.” And another 363 pages of emails were withheld because they discussed privileged agency communications or out of personal privacy concerns.
Trust Insty to point out the obvious so succinctly:  WHY HE WENT SO EASY ON HILLARY: HE WAS ESTABLISHING A CONVENIENT PRECEDENT. James Comey used personal email to discuss FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server.

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