Am struck this morning by the exquisite and peculiar pivot point that Attorney General Sessions has become – certainly quite unhappily, from his perspective – in the Trump saga.
Although the Democrats and some Republicans have cuffed him around for forgetting about both his own Russian contacts and Mr. Papadopoulos’ reference to Mr. Papadopoulos’ Russian ties, no one has really gone after the Attorney General with the outright viciousness we have seen in Washington. Nobody is seriously calling for his resignation or firing.
I would suggest that there are two reasons. First (and, regrettably, that probably of lesser import to Democrats), the Congress knows him, and the members may well viscerally know – even those, such as Sen. Schumer and Rep. Pelosi, that decry the AG’s views in most areas – that Mr. Sessions would not interact inappropriately with the Russians.
The second reason is obviously that Democrats and those Republicans concerned about Mr. Trump want Mr. Sessions right where he is – with his recusal effectively blocking the President’s ability to fire Mr. Mueller. Democrats and those Republicans concerned about Mr. Trump don’t want Mr. Sessions; they want a full and fair investigation of Mr. Trump and his associates, and having Mr. Sessions continuing to serve as AG appears an appropriate means to achieve that goal.
I heard liberal talking heads lauding Mr. Sessions this morning for rebuffing Jim Jordan’s drive toward having the AG appoint a Special Counsel to investigate Uranium One. While I don’t discount a desire by Mr. Sessions to do his job ethically and honorably – to follow the facts — being scrupulously straight is also the AG’s best approach for his own self-preservation. I don’t think Mr. Sessions needs to be told that his own bumbling and faulty memory have given the Democrats sufficient ammunition against him so that even if he’s not now directly in the political cross-hairs, he’s certainly within range … and that his best course for his own survival is to play it scrupulously straight, lest he get swallowed by the Trump maelstrom …
McCoy's Noise 