Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a rare statement Thursday said that the Justice Department “will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.” In one of his toughest statements following criticism from President Trump, Sessions defended his leadership of the Justice Department, which has come under increasing attack from the president and his allies.
“While I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations. I demand the highest standards, and where they are not met, I take action,” Sessions said in a direct response to Trump’s interview on Fox.
“However, no nation has a more talented, more dedicated group of law enforcement investigators and prosecutors than the United States,” Sessions said.
Sessions’s statement came after President Trump criticized the attorney general once more, during an interview with Fox News, for his recusal from matters related to the federal investigation into Russian election interference.
Trump also criticized the Justice Department in stark terms.
“Even my enemies say that, ‘Jeff Sessions should have told you he was going to recuse himself, and then you wouldn’t have put him in,’” Trump said in an interview that aired Thursday.
Trump also said that he only selected Sessions, previously a senator from Alabama, to be his top law enforcement officer because of his “loyalty” during the campaign.
“He was on the campaign. You know, the only reason I gave him the job was because I felt loyalty,” Trump said. “He was an original supporter.”
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Trump said in the interview with Fox News that Sessions “never took control of the Justice Department.”
“All of my people, they’re doing incredibly. But the whole thing with — going on with the Justice and FBI — when you see Strzok and his lover, Lisa Page, when you see Comey with all the lies that he’s told, when you see Mueller with the conflicts,” Trump said.
“He’s so conflicted. Comey’s his best friend. He had a really nasty business transaction with me, which he never reported. I’ve been talking about it; he never reports it. I mean, you look at the bad things.”
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JUST IN: Sessions fires back at Trump: "We will not be improperly influenced" by politics in our investigations https://t.co/vaBAL8cy4H pic.twitter.com/bGuudTsvW9
— The Hill (@thehill) August 23, 2018
Sessions: “While I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.”
I don’t always agree with Jeff Sessions but he’s 100% right here under immense pressure from the President and warrants our support. https://t.co/sOKhuELtJl
— Mindy Finn (@mindyfinn) August 23, 2018
Sen. @bensasse (R-NE): "I find it really difficult to envision any circumstance where I would vote to confirm a successor to Jeff Sessions if he is fired because he is executing his job rather than choosing to act like a partisan hack." pic.twitter.com/oqI3oXH0DX
— CSPAN (@cspan) August 23, 2018
Remember that time Hillary stole a bunch of TS/SCI (which is highly classified not "classified" just FYI) and gave it to advocacy journalists to post it online?
Me neither.https://t.co/A4zfAZ7Gs6
— John Schindler (@20committee) August 24, 2018
When people ask me why I worry about this nebulous thing called "the rule of law," this is why: the President slagging a Federal court and his own AG to make a political point that isn't even a factually accurate point.
This is awful, and we've just *gotten used to it*. https://t.co/BBTpfIkBVy— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 24, 2018
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