Donald Trump was angry when Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III recused himself from any investigation into connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. Now Sessions has also decided he has to opt out of a related matter.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday that his recusal from Justice Department investigations into the 2016 campaign for president will extend into inquiries into the activities of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, under fire for his ties to foreign governments.
Sessions was all over the map in signaling whether or not there was an ongoing investigation into Flynn at the Justice Department, and no-commented his way through any discussion of Flynn’s already revealed violations. But there’s a better reason for Sessions to step away from all this than just sharing a few off-color jokes with the ex-national security advisor.
Sessions, too, has been tied to Russia: The attorney general recused himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian interference in last year’s election amid reports that he had met on multiple occasions with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the campaign even though he had testified during his Senate confirmation hearing that he had not interacted with Russian officials.
This isn’t all bad for Sessions. Unable to look into a potential national crisis, the attorney general is freed up to concentrate on distorting statistics, attacking immigrants and eroding voting rights. And really, that’s the only reason anyone would hire Sessions to begin with.
Sessions isn’t investigating Trump–Russia. Devin Nunes has stepped aside at the House Intelligence Committee, but only after driving that committee into the weeds. Richard Burr has slowed the Senate Intelligence Committee by hiring no staff, but did just finally agree to schedule a public hearing for May. Republicans have done their best to slow the investigation, providing the cover-up plenty of time to bury the bodies and scrub down the evidence.
What about an FBI investigation into how Flynn made it past the transition team and into the national security advisor role despite sipping champagne with Vladimir Putin and pocketing hundreds of thousands to support dictators?
While the FBI has acknowledged that it is investigating Russian interference in last year’s election as well as possible ties between Trump’s presidential campaign and the Kremlin, Sessions said he was unaware of any specific investigation into Flynn.
But there are a few gears still slowly turning.
On Thursday, the Pentagon’s inspector general announced that it had opened an investigation into Flynn, who left the Defense Department in 2014 but maintained a security clearance that was last renewed in 2016.