NY Times Interviews President Trump, Blasts Jeff Sessions

Why President Trump gave an interview to the NY Times is a mystery but he did.

In an interview with the NY Times Wednesday, President Trump blasted Jeff Sessions; accused Comey of leveraging the Russia dossier to keep his job; and agreed that Mueller looking into his finances might be a redline. He also said he talked “adoption” with Putin and found it “interesting” that the topic came up.

His comments about Jeff Sessions will disturb the attorney general’s supporters though some are wondering where Sessions has been on any number of issues.

None of what Trump said about Sessions is new information, however, he hasn’t been able to put it behind him as the Russia story continues. It’s hard to see how Sessions continues in his position after this interview.

President Trump said that he would not have chosen Jeff Sessions to be his attorney general had he known Sessions would recuse himself over matters related to the 2016 presidential campaign.

“Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself, which frankly I think is very unfair to the President,” Trump said, referring to himself. “How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, ‘Thanks, Jeff, but I’m not going to take you.’ It’s extremely unfair — and that’s a mild word — to the President.”

Mr. Trump also faulted Mr. Sessions for his testimony during Senate confirmation hearings when Mr. Sessions said he had not met with any Russians even though he had met at least twice with Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak. “Jeff Sessions gave some bad answers,” the president said. “He gave some answers that were simple questions and should have been simple answers, but they weren’t.”

The attorney general has not commented. He was his most ardent supporter and stuck with him through some really tough times.

The President has a right to be very frustrated.

Constitutional lawyer Jonathan Turley believes that Sessions did the right thing to avoid the appearance of impropriety.  Where he does feel Trump has a point is about Robert Mueller. How can a man who interviewed for the job given to another also be in charge of an investigation into Trump? Turley asks. He believes Rosenstein has conflicts also. Rob Rosenstein was a witness as one who recommended Comey be fired and he should not be involved in the selection of Mueller.

Trump was very blunt about his feelings towards Comey and Mueller

The president also accused James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director he fired in May, of trying to leverage a dossier of compromising material to keep his job. According to the NY Times:

Mr. Trump recalled that a little more than two weeks before his inauguration, Mr. Comey and other intelligence officials briefed him at Trump Tower on Russian meddling. Mr. Comey afterward pulled Mr. Trump aside and told him about a dossier than had been assembled by a former British spy filled with salacious allegations against the incoming president, including supposed sexual escapades in Moscow. The F.B.I. has not corroborated the most sensational assertions in the dossier.

In the interview, Mr. Trump said he believes Mr. Comey told him about the dossier to implicitly make clear he had something to hold over the president. “In my opinion, he shared it so that I would think he had it out there,” Mr. Trump said. As leverage? “Yeah, I think so,’’ Mr. Trump said. “In retrospect.”

Trump then spoke about Robert Mueller who is hiring a lot of Democrats to investigate the Russia story and possibly him for obstruction of justice. Trump said he does not believe he is being investigated personally.

From the NY Times:

Mr. Trump said Mr. Mueller was running an office rife with conflicts of interest and warned investigators against delving into matters too far afield from Russia. Mr. Trump never said he would order the Justice Department to fire Mr. Mueller, nor would he outline circumstances under which he might do so. But he left open the possibility as he expressed deep grievance over an investigation that has taken a political toll in the six months since he took office.

Asked if Mr. Mueller’s investigation would cross a red line if it expanded to look at his family’s finances beyond any relationship to Russia, Mr. Trump said, “I would say yes.” He would not say what he would do about it. “I think that’s a violation. Look, this is about Russia.”

Asked if Mr. Mueller’s investigation would cross a red line if it expanded to look at his family’s finances beyond any relationship to Russia, Mr. Trump said, “I would say yes.” He would not say what he would do about it. “I think that’s a violation. Look, this is about Russia.”

The conversation with Putin was “about adoptions”

The left is already flipping out over what Trump said was discussed during his recently reported conversation with Putin at a dinner. It’s not surprising that Putin brought up adoptions but the left is already speculating — wildly.

When the topic of his informal conversation with President Putin came up, the President said they spoke for about 15 minutes, mostly exchanging “pleasantries”. He added that they discussed adoptions.

The reason this is important is because adoptions were a focus of the Trump Jr. meetings that we’ve heard so much about for the last two weeks.

The interview lasted about 50-minutes and only one aide was present, Hope Hicks. The Times described the interview as sandwiched in between a White House lunch and a Made in America event. Trump was relaxed and often fiery according to the Times.

Whatever Trump’s failings, he was the only opportunity for the right to take back the Republic. We are heading for Socialism. The Republicans are failing us and Trump is the last hope.

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