U.S. Department of Justice
Attorney Work Product // May Contain Material Protected Under Fed. R. Crim. P. 6(e)
tweeted, "The Russian Witch Hunt Hoax continues, all because Jeff Sessions didn't tell me he was going to recuse himself.... I would have quickly picked someone else. So much time and money wasted, so many lives ruined . . . and Sessions knew better than most that there was No Collusion!"[1] On August 1, 2018, the President tweeted that "Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now."[2] On August 23, 2018, the President publicly criticized Sessions in a press interview and suggested that prosecutions at the Department of Justice were politically motivated because Paul Manafort had been prosecuted but Democrats had not.[3] The President said, "I put in an Attorney General that never took control of the Justice Department, Jeff Sessions."[4] That day, Sessions issued a press statement that said, "I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in .... While I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations."[5] The next day, the President tweeted a response: "'Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.' Jeff, this is GREAT, what everyone wants, so look into all of the corruption on the 'other side' including deleted Emails, Comey lies & leaks, Mueller conflicts, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA abuse, Christopher Steele & his phony and corrupt Dossier, the Clinton Foundation, illegal surveillance of Trump campaign, Russian collusion by Dems — and so much more. Open up the papers & documents without redaction? Come on Jeff, you can do it, the country is waiting!"[6]
On November 7, 2018, the day after the midterm elections, the President replaced Sessions with Sessions's chief of staff as Acting Attorney General.[7]
Analysis
In analyzing the President's efforts to have Sessions unrecuse himself and regain control of the Russia investigation, the following considerations and evidence are relevant to the elements of obstruction of justice:
a. Obstructive act. To determine if the President's efforts to have the Attorney General unrecuse could qualify as an obstructive act, it would be necessary to assess evidence on whether those actions would naturally impede the Russia investigation. That inquiry would take into account the supervisory role that the Attorney General, if unrecused, would play in the Russia investigation. It also would have to take into account that the Attorney General's recusal covered
- ↑ @realDonald Trump 6/5/18 (7:31 a.m. ET) Tweet.
- ↑ @realDonaldTrump 8/1/18 (9:24 a.m, ET) Tweet.
- ↑ Pox & Friends Interview of President Trump, Fox News (Aug. 23, 2018).
- ↑ Fox & Friends Interview of President Trump, Fox News (Aug. 23, 2018).
- ↑ Sessions 8/23/18 Press Statement.
- ↑ @realDonaldTrump 8/24/18 (6:17 a.m. ET) Tweet; @ realDonaldTrump 8/24/18 (6:28 a.m. ET) Tweet.
- ↑ @realDonaldTrump 11/7/18 (2:44 p.m. ET) Tweet.
("Jeff Sessions should be ashamed of himself for allowing this total HOAX to get started in the first place!").
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