After a day of taking heat from the President over a “disgraceful” investigation into FISA abuse, Attorney General Jeff Sessions grabbed dinner Wednesday night with his deputy AG Rod Rosenstein and the Solicitor General, Noel Francisco.
Sessions and Rosenstein have finished their dinner pic.twitter.com/fDSIwvh6RM
— Jack Posobiec ???????? (@JackPosobiec) March 1, 2018
While it’s anyone’s guess what the trio discussed, the image of Sessions, dining with Rosenstein – who signed off on one or more “Steele dossier” FISA applications – is unmistakable: Sessions enjoys the culinary delights of the swamp.
From refusing to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate the suspected Awan family spy ring, to seemingly covering for the FBI’s mishandling of evidence in the Uranium One case – which Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein were directly involved in, to now relegating the FISA abuse investigation to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) instead of appointing a second Special Counsel – many believe Sessions has been stonewalling for the establishment.
But wait… could this be 4D chess? Perhaps Sessions simply doesn’t trust anyone “from the swamp” to lead Special Counsel investigations – and Inspector General Michael Horowitz – who Trump referred to as an “Obama guy,” is about to set D.C. on fire with his upcoming OIG report. He also fought the Obama administration for several years to restore OIG powers which the previous administration stripped. You can read more about Horowitz here, and will likely conclude that he’s no “Obama guy.”
Earlier in the day, President Trump fired off an angry tweet rebuking Sessions for asking the OIG – an “Obama guy,” to “investigate potentially massive FISA abuse.”
Trump said the investigation will “take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the IG an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!”
Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2018
Sessions fired back in a stiffly-worded statement to Trump, defending his handling of the FISA investigation by saying he followed the “appropriate process” by ordering the IG to investigate and that, as long as he remains attorney general, he will “continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor.”
AG SESSIONS STATEMENT: “We have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this Department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary….” (1/2) https://t.co/MXsl6QF0r3
— Adam Levine (@cnnadam) February 28, 2018
AG SESSIONS STATEMENT CT’D: “As long as I am the Attorney General, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this Department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution. “ (2/2) https://t.co/MXsl6QF0r3
— Adam Levine (@cnnadam) February 28, 2018
On its face, Sessions publicly “swimming with the swamp creatures” while appearing to stonewall several legitimate investigations into potential espionage, election interference, and pay-for-play has infuriated those who expected Hillary to be in jail by now, along with the Awans and corrupt FBI and DOJ officials (some of whom are still collecting paychecks).
On the other hand, perhaps Sessions knows that Inspector General Michael Horowitz is simply the best man for the job, and today’s entire exchange between Trump and Sessions was nothing more than theater while ongoing investigations mature.
One has to wonder; in a swampy town like D.C., who would lead a second Special Counsel into anything anyway?