Donald Trump makes major new move to cripple Jeff Sessions
Based on his own words, Donald Trump had enough of Jeff Sessions a long time ago. The only reason Sessions still has a job is that the Republicans in the Senate have been trying to protect their former colleague, while the Democrats in the Senate have been fearful that the ouster of Sessions could lead to the ouster of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. This week, as Sessions began to look more guilty than ever in the Trump-Russia scandal, everyone in Congress seemed to signal that they’re no longer interested in protecting him. Accordingly, Trump just made a major move aimed at crippling Sessions and pushing him out the door.
When Jeff Sessions moved from the Senate to the Attorney General position, Donald Trump hired Sessions’ long time Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn to a senior White House position. Dearborn has been one of the relatively few senior White House advisors whose job seemed safe, even as other advisors have come and gone en masse this year.
However, according to a new Politico report, Rick Dearborn is being pushed out of the White House and reassigned to a much lower level position in the administration (link). This is a clear attempt at weakening and angering Jeff sessions, as Dearborn was Sessions’ man in the White House. It could also be interpreted as Trump no longer trusting Sessions, and therefore not wanting sessions to have eyes and ears inside the White House. While it’s clear that Trump is now trying to force Sessions out of a job, it also raises another intriguing question.
Does Donald Trump believe that Jeff Sessions may have already secretly cut a deal with Robert Mueller? If so, it would explain why Trump is choosing now to try to shove Sessions out the back door. In any case, the Democrats in Congress are now aggressively trying to get rid of Sessions, which means they’ve concluded that Mueller’s job security is now safe. They appear to know something we don’t. Stay tuned.
