After Attorney General Jefferson Sessions recused himself from leading the investigation into connections between the Trump campaign and Russia, Donald Trump asked him to reverse that decision. And when Sessions wouldn’t do that, the New York Times reports that Trump asked him to stay in control of the investigation despite the recusal. It was after this second appeal—one that involved bringing Sessions to Mar-a-lago for a special outside the White House dressing down—that Trump began to issue a series of statements and tweets declaring his dissatisfaction with Sessions, spawning rumors that the attorney general had either offered to resign or was about to be fired.
Trump’s insistence that he needed “a loyalist” in charge of the investigation is now part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump attempted to obstruct the Justice Department from conducting a thorough look into his campaign. Where previous discussions of obstructions had focused on Trump’s actions in firing FBI Director James Comey, his confrontation with Sessions came months earlier.
Mr. Trump, who had told aides that he needed a loyalist overseeing the inquiry, berated Mr. Sessions and told him he should reverse his decision, an unusual and potentially inappropriate request.
The new information on how Trump tried to get Sessions to hang onto the reins of the investigation isn’t about Comey, but it mirrors Trump’s actions with Comey. In both cases, Trump was insistent that the most important thing about the investigation was that it was handled by someone whose first loyalty was not to the office, or the truth, but to Trump.
Both incidents show that Trump was deeply concerned, not about obstruction, but about the substance of the Trump–Russia investigation. So concerned, that he was determined to have his own man running the show. That concern is continually echoed in Trump’s regular tweets about the “Angry Democrats” in the investigation, and his presentation of Mueller and Comey as partisan hacks. But there’s another point that the New York Times story may be missing. Because Trump’s actions with Sessions and Comey have a third echo: House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes.
After his attempt to create a scandal around information that came from inside the White House, Devin Nunes was forced to recuse himself from the House investigation into Trump–Russia. Except he didn’t. What Nunes actually did appears to be the model for what Trump wanted Sessions to do. Which raises the question—did Nunes take his actions at the order of Trump?
Though the shorthand version of the story has always insisted that Nunes recused himself, that’s not what happened. Instead, Nunes announced that he was ‘temporarily stepping aside’ from the Russia investigation. He moved his things out of the chairman’s seat for hearings, and made a show of letting other people do the talking. But Nunes never stopping pulling the strings.
He retained complete control of subpoenas for the investigation, refusing to issue them for dozens of witnesses and ignoring every Democratic request for a subpoena of documents. More importantly, he continued to create reports and memos on the hearing.
Even though he was supposedly recused, Nunes continually disrupted the progress of the investigation by scheduling hearings off site, lining up multiple witnesses at the same time, and refusing to call witnesses connected to the Trump Tower meeting or Trump’s social media operations. Nunes also created a number of memos and reports—most notably the “release the memo” memo—which were intended to denigrate the investigation and, like many of Trump’s tweets, undermine the motives of the investigators. Ultimately it was Nunes who led the group of Republicans who cut the investigation short and issued a document that Donald Trump continues to use as a shield to any question of collusion with Russian operatives.
To see what Trump wanted from Jefferson Sessions, there’s no need to look any further than Devin Nunes. And there’s also no doubt that Nunes talked directly with Trump before he made his “stepping aside” announcement.
Trump makes no bones about it: He views the world as for-Trump and against-Trump, and in his mind only the for-Trump faction should be allowed to hold any power. Any. The difference between Comey, Sessions, and Nunes, is that when Comey was asked to put loyalty to Trump above all else, he said no. Devin Nunes said yes. Jeff Sessions … we still don’t know.
The most important quality Trump is looking for in an AG — someone who will do for the Justice Department, what Nunes did for the House.
For all Trump’s complaining, he has a remedy. Sessions serves at his pleasure. He can fire the attorney general if he wants. But he hasn’t. Which strongly suggests that Sessions, who has been there for moments like firing Comey, isn’t as recused as it might seem.