Just to be clear, it’s not my intention to turn the Heisenberg Report into a newswire.
That is, I’m never going to be able to compete with AP, Reuters, and AFP when it comes to timeliness even if all I do all day long is sit on the Bloomberg feed and post headlines.
That said, I wanted to chime in quickly on the latest scandal to rock the Trump administration.
I won’t recount the entire story because, again, you can go to the main wires, and indeed all you really need is the short story and some common sense.
There were already very real questions about whether it was appropriate to elevate a known racist to Attorney General and those debates hit peak absurdity when Elizabeth Warren was basically told to “shut the f*ck up” when she tried to read a letter penned by Coretta Scott King (who in 1986 accused Sessions of “using the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters”) on the Senate floor.
Nevertheless, this guy…
… was confirmed anyway and now it turns out that old Jefferson Beauregard (and yes, that’s his real f*cking name) had a nice little chat in his office last September with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
As The Washington Post notes, “that took place at the height of what U.S. intelligence officials say was a Russian cyber campaign to upend the U.S. presidential race.”
Imagine that.
Besides being suspicious on its face, that presents a itsy, bitsy little problem for Sessions.
See when asked if he was aware of any contact between the Trump campaign and the Russians at his confirmation hearing he said this:
I’m not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.
Hilariously, Sessions’ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said this:
There was absolutely nothing misleading about his answer.
Except for the fact that it was a goddamn boldfaced lie.
Sessions himself said this last night:
I have no idea what this allegation is about.
It’s about that meeting you had.
In your office.
With the Russian ambassador.
Oh, that meeting.
Well, here’s how the aforementioned Sarah Flores explains it:
He was asked during the hearing about communications between Russia and the Trump campaign – not about meetings he took as a senator and a member of the Armed Services Committee.
Ok, but that’s not what he said. Again Ms. Flores, he said this:
I did not have communications with the Russians.
And besides that, it turns out that no other member of the Senate Armed Services Committee besides Sessions found it necessary to meet with Kislyak last year.
This morning House majority Leader Kevin McCarthy graciously said it might be better if Sessions didn’t take part in the DoJ’s investigation of Trump’s ties to Russia:
I think — the trust of the American people – you recuse yourself from these situations.
Gee, thanks Kevin. Do you think maybe that understates the case a bit?
Let’s just be clear here, Jeff Sessions – the guy is supposed to oversee the investigation into possible ties between Trump and the Russians – himself met with the Russians and then committed perjury when asked about those meetings and now all Republicans can say is “well, maybe he should recuse himself”?!
I’m sorry, but this is when I get to ask the following question of Trump’s support base: “How f*cking stupid and naive are you?”
And then with the last administration there was, no new boots on the ground, closing gitmo, you will keep your doctor
What does any of what you wrote have to do with THIS situation? Obama is NOT in office. You do understand that FACT? If not then sorry the catchy phrase of this post would apply.
Anon is highlighting the selective outrage and hypocrisy of H …
It’s been a while since an AG resignation and I think the calls for Sessions’ are way overblown … didn’t see AG Loretta Lynch stepping down after meeting with WJC …
H is pretty well read and has some analytic skills … I’ll give him that … but not a lot of originality … (heavy reliance on other analysts’ commentary and charts) …
One of the only reasons I hang around and bother with his blog is it reminds me a little of my old favorite feature of WSJ–the online feature Best of the Web … I think Taranto (by the by, a man who did NOT hold an academic degree) was a far more astute political observer and media critic …
We get it … H doesn’t think much of the new president … he’s upset that his team lost … therefore, his every misstep and that of his administration must be magnified hysterically …
… only a little over a month into the new administration and I’m not sure I can stick around for the constant drumbeat … we’ll see …
Wapo? You mean the same Wapo that had a fake news reference in an article denouncing fake news?
Pleeeease try to understand what fake news is. It is false, incorrect, not real, phony, misdirecting, obfuscating and in some cases outright lying. So you think that The Washington Post who has been in business since Dec 6, 1877 does all this “fake” reporting Becaussssse? Again I must refer you to the catchy phrase of this post.
The Sessions issue is a joke. It’s always amazing to me how people so smart as TH can succumb to such idiocy.