Now we know why Donald Trump specifically targeted Jeff Sessions this morning
Donald Trump has used his own handpicked Attorney General as a punching bag more than a few times over the past year. So when Trump began attacking Sessions on Twitter this morning, it was tempting to write it off as merely yet another instance of Trump taking out his frustrations or needing a distraction. Now it turns out Trump had a specific reason for targeting Sessions this morning, and it has everything to do with Sessions and Robert Mueller.
This morning Trump posted this weird word jumble about Sessions, which in hindsight was perhaps frantic enough to have signaled that something specific was afoot: “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!” Now we’re learning what prompted it.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been investigating whether Donald Trump broke the law with his earlier public attacks on Jeff Sessions, according to a newly published Washington Post report (link). Why would this be illegal? Trump appeared to be trying to harass Sessions into resigning, so he could replace him with a new Attorney General who might be willing to shut the Mueller investigation down.
The way these things work, the newspaper would have asked Trump’s White House if it wanted to provide comment for the story, so Trump would have known about this article since at least yesterday. That means his attack on Sessions this morning was out of frustration, after learning that his previous attacks on Sessions may have added to the criminal charges he’s going to face. Palmer Report has said all along that Trump’s tweets would help take him down, and now we’re seeing that start to play out. This also means Mueller is looking to nail Trump for having illegally tried to get rid of Mueller.
