Attorney General, Jeff Sessions has resigned

I am posting this without analysis or comment.

Copied below is Jeff Sessions resignation letter.

Dear Mr. President,

At your request, I am submitting my resignation.

Since the day I was honored to be sworn in as Attorney General of the United States, I came to work at the Department of Justice every day determined to do my duty and serve my country. I have done so to the best of my ability, working to support the fundamental legal processes that are the foundation of justice.

The team we assembled embraced your directive to be a law and order Department of Justice. We prosecuted the largest number of violent offenders and firearm defendants in our country's history. We took transnational gangs that are bringing violence and death across our borders and protected national security. We did our part to restore immigration enforcement. We targeted the opioid epidemic by prosecuting doctors, pharmacists, and anyone else who contributes to this crisis with new law enforcement tools and determination. And we have seen results. After two years of rising violent crime and homicides prior to this administration, those trends have reversed–thanks to the hard work of our prosecutors and law enforcement around the country.

I am particularly grateful to the fabulous men and women in law enforcement all over this country with whom I have served. I have had no greater honor than to serve along them. As I have said many times, they have my thanks and I will always have their backs.

More importantly, in my time as Attorney General we have restored and upheld the rule of law–a glorious tradition that each of us has a responsibility to safeguard. We have operated with integrity and have lawfully and aggressively advanced the policy agenda of this administration.

I have been honored to serve as Attorney General and have worked to implement the law enforcement agenda based on the rule of law that formed a central part of your campaign for the Presidency.

Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. President.

Sincerely,

Jefferson B. Sessions III

Attorney General

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mimi's picture

so what is it ?

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gulfgal98's picture

@mimi they are asked to submit their resignation. This is exactly what happened as Seesions wrote in his letter. First line...

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@mimi
According to the top of the letter, so yeah, he was fired.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

Amanda Matthews's picture

@mimi

Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigns at Trump’s request

Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigned on Wednesday at President Trump’s request, ending the tenure of a beleaguered loyalist whose relationship with the president was ruined when Sessions recused himself from control of the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

In a letter to Trump, Sessions wrote he had been “honored to serve as Attorney General” and had “worked to implement the law enforcement agenda based on the rule of law that formed a central part of your campaign for the presidency.” Trump tweeted that Sessions would be replaced on an acting basis by Matthew G. Whitaker, who had been serving as Sessions’s chief of staff.

“We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well!” Trump tweeted. “A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date.”

A Justice Department official said Whitaker would assume authority over the special counsel probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election — though his role could be reviewed by ethics officials. Because Sessions was recused, the special counsel probe had been overseen by Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who also has had strained relations with Trump, but is considered safe in his position for the moment. Rosenstein was headed to the White House Wednesday afternoon for what an official said was a pre-scheduled meeting.

Though Sessions’s removal was long expected, the installation of Whitaker sparked fears that the president might be trying to exert control over the special counsel investigation led by Robert S. Mueller III.

*

Sen. Mark R. Warner (Va.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement, “No one is above the law and any effort to interfere with the Special Counsel’s investigation would be a gross abuse of power by the President. While the President may have the
authority to replace the Attorney General, this must not be the first step in an attempt to impede, obstruct or end the Mueller investigation.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/world/nation...

Which means:

Rod Rosenstein no longer overseeing Russia probe

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is no longer overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election meddling — following the resignation of Jeff Sessions.

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker will now oversee the investigation, a Justice Department spokeswoman said.

*

In a 2017 opinion piece, Whitaker called for Mueller to “limit the scope of his investigation.”

https://nypost.com/2018/11/07/rod-rosenstein-no-longer-overseeing-russia...

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

@Amanda Matthews
Russian hacking and collusion was the original scope. It's been widened into a general partisan witch hunt. that's wrong. Stick to the original charges and wind it up. Let's not have an ongoing partisan hunt for something to charge. The original Whitewater investigation was into charges of influence peddling. That was right and proper. It ended with an impeachment attempt based on pure partisanship and a cheap tabloid sex scandal. That was wrong.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

snoopydawg's picture

Granny Sessions was taking us back a few decades because of his insistence on ramping up drug sentencing. Plenty of reasons to be happy his buttocks are going.

Here's Schumer's statement on this:

"It would create a constitutional crisis if this were a prelude to ending or greatly limiting the Mueller investigation and I hope President Trump and those he listens to will refrain from that.”

Too late. Chuckles. He's gone.

Twitter is abuzz about this.

IMG_1740_0.JPG

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Pricknick's picture

@snoopydawg
They will have full hearings on why a useless government official was asked to resign.
The bravado is astounding.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Alphalop's picture

@Pricknick
I am very glad to see that jerk gone.

I'm totally speculating here but here's a theory on why.

Canada has ended the war on marijuana, Mexico has ended the war on marijuana, more and more states have ended the war on marijuana, even Trump in the past has stated that we needed to end the war on marijuana.

Trump wants to win reelection and currently marijuana is favored to be legalized by the vast majority of the country.

A lot of progressive momentum has come from the legalization movement.

This removes some of the obstruction that some that are on the fence may feel when going into the ballot booths who favored cannabis on both sides of the spectrum.

Sessions was vehemently opposed to cannibis legalization.

I imagine his obstruction was causing him to go from being an asset to Trump to a detriment and he was probably told to get on board with ending cannabis prohibition at the federal level or resign.

Totally pulling this out of my ass but he did just lose a big last-ditch effort to use the RICO statute against cannabis cultivators Sellers and whatnot through civil lawsuits as well.

He's always been a buffoon but maybe Trump is just finally seeing that.

Either way good riddance to very bad rubbish.

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"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me

Pricknick's picture

@Alphalop
until he leaves this world. Many in this nation are still all on board with his hatred for hippies.
I'm sure somebody will pick him up as a spokesman. For instance this dirtbag site:
http://kevinsabet.com/

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Mark from Queens's picture

@Alphalop
That's rich!

I think you might be on to something though, about the comically staunch, anti-weed stance held by the caricature of a Southern "Gentleman" becoming a liability, as the country (and as you point out, North America too) turns away from that decades-long bogus marijuana fear that's been generated by the FBI as a racist ploy to further alienate and control the black population.

But in Trumpworld it's really always about him first.

In his supremely narcissistic world of goonery, there's only room for One Buffoon (see the goomba trader from Goldman Sachs, whatever his name was; and Steve Bannon, and whoever else he jettisoned to have it all to himself).

God forbid he gets out-Buffooned! That's mostly all he's got.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

snoopydawg's picture

@Pricknick

I'll just say that I'm totally disgusted with Nancy saying shit about bipartisanship after what McConnell and Ryan did the last two years to us.

"I don't see that we need to change anything" Pelosi said after Herheinous lost. Nope. Not one damn thing, Nancy.

IMG_2412.JPG

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snoopydawg's picture

We targeted the opioid epidemic by prosecuting doctors, pharmacists, and anyone else who contributes to this crisis with new law enforcement tools and determination.

The makers of OxyContin are still walking freely and still making it as far as I know. This is who has 'contributed' to the opioid epidemic. You have gone after doctors who legitimately treat people who have chronic pain you little weasel.

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lotlizard's picture

@snoopydawg  
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/after-illegally-pushing-oxyconti...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/12/massachusetts-opioid-law...

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gulfgal98's picture

I worked with a guy at the City who left to go work in a high profile job at the County. Everything went fine for some time until my friend was asked to do something he felt was unprofessional, and he refused. The next day, he was asked to submit his resignation or be fired. The proverbial dog doo doo hit the fan when some activist members of the public found out and the next day, there was a front page (local section) article on his resignation.

In that article, my friend made the classic statement that still brings a smile to my face. He was quoted as saying, "As of 3:30 today, I learned of my desire to resign." Smile

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Bollox Ref's picture

.... well, not really. (Just look at that name... Confederacy much?)

Plonker!

Is Mueller cutting close to the bone?

(Edited)

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

lotlizard's picture

@Bollox Ref  
or, among us elderly folk who still recall such things, Senator Jubilation T. Cornpone from Al Capp’s Li’l Abner comic strip.

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Pricknick's picture

The mini stroke he had with Michigan going full legalization has diminished his already addled mind.
A walking tombstone that I will happily piss on when the time comes.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

snoopydawg's picture

Nea

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@snoopydawg

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

lotlizard's picture

@snoopydawg  
“Frontline” gets its man: Lanny Breuer leaves DOJ after exposé
https://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/01/11959/frontline-gets-its-man-lanny-...

Lanny Breuer admits that economists have convinced him not to indict corporations
https://www.emptywheel.net/2012/09/14/lanny-breuer-admits-that-economist...

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=lanny+breuer+indict+corporations

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WoodsDweller's picture

Mueller has been complying with DOJ guidelines to refrain from actions between Labor Day and the election. The election is over. The Democrats came up short.
Had the Democrats taken the Senate (always a long shot) then they could have declined to confirm any new Attorney General, leaving Trump with no way to shut Mueller down.
I expect things to progress quickly. In fact I would not be surprised to see Mueller out by the Friday news dump.
I would also not be surprised if Mueller has taken steps to allow at least parts (state charges rather than federal) of the investigation to proceed even if the main group is shut down.
Trump (via his new DOJ minions) might be able to fire Mueller and his team, bring in an "unbiased" team which would absolve everyone of all charges within a week.
The new House isn't seated until January. The existing Republican Congress will do fuck all to respond to this "Constitutional Crisis". Some Dems will make Very Serious Speeches on C-Span.
Absolutely obstruction of justice, absolutely grounds for impeachment, but Republicans would have to be on board to stop it.
Sad but true.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

@WoodsDweller ,

and I mean this as a question, not a challenge, but what do you mean by,

I would also not be surprised if Mueller has taken steps to allow at least parts (state charges rather than federal) of the investigation to proceed even if the main group is shut down.

What state or federal charges, and what main group of the investigation? I admit in advance that I may be missing something. Are you referring to the charges already filed and adjudged, i.e Manafort, or something having to do with Trump's lawyer paying a blackmailer? Are the Russian Facebook ads the main group under criminal investigation?

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WoodsDweller's picture

@Linda Wood ...we'll have to wait and see. For example, if upon review of Trump's taxes (which the House will be able to obtain, though Mueller probably hasen't been able to yet) there were crimes committed on his Federal taxes, that would undoubtedly have corresponding issues on his state taxes. Even if Trump was able to obstruct the Federal charges, the state charges could proceed. There's his charity which seems to have had some questionable dealings, I'm pretty sure those are state level.
My point is that even if Mueller is fired and the new Trump minions at DoJ bury the whole Federal investigation, state level prosecutors could very well have their own cases to pursue.
It all depends on what Mueller has found, and what Cohen, Manafort, and Weisselberg have offered. We don't know that yet, nor how they break down between Federal and state charges.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

@WoodsDweller

Trump's taxes. It has nothing to do with Russia or Collusion with Russia to destroy our election. I think that's what the issue is about Mueller's investigation, i.e. the scope. I agree with you and with everyone who believes Trump's taxes are an issue, but I also agree with those who believe Mueller is investigating something, the scope of which has been defined by Rod Rosenstein in a document that hasn't been released unredacted to the public.

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WoodsDweller's picture

... but I'm not going to let that stop me!

John Dean, speaking to CNN

One of the key ways Mueller could have planned for this eventuality was by sealing indictments, Dean explained. They wouldn't be subject to public view, and the targets would not even be aware of them, but they would be filed officially through the grand jury and could be made public at a later date.

"Theoretically, I think the foreman of the grand jury could take them in to the judge, or they would be filed with the judge already, and this would be the basis to unseal them," he said. "It could be one of the president's children, it could be somebody else very high in the pecking order."

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

Pricknick's picture

@WoodsDweller
Pharmaceutical, money whore dean can go fuck himself.

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WoodsDweller's picture

@Pricknick This is John Dean, Nixon's White House Counsel, not Howard Dean, pretend liberal and lobbyist sellout.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

Pricknick's picture

@WoodsDweller
You were more than clear. It was I who failed to comprehend.

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gulfgal98's picture

@Pricknick Here is who John Dean is...

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

ggersh's picture

@gulfgal98

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Pricknick's picture

@gulfgal98
I think it was the word "Theoretically" in that quote that threw me.
I know who john dean is but even he should refrain from using that word.
Maybe I'm too critical sometimes.

the·o·ret·i·cal·ly
in a way that relates to the theory of a subject or area of study rather than its practical application.
"the method has been studied theoretically"
according to theory rather than experience or practice.
"this scenario is theoretically possible, but not very likely"

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Where in the Constitution does it say that the President can't fire a cabinet officer?
I know Dems have invented a clause that says the Attorney-General can't be fired, but where is it?

After the Civil War, President Andrew Johnson was impeached for firing one or two cabinet officers that were plotting against him. The Radical republicans in the Senate claimed that the President needed the Advice and Consent of the Senate to fire anyone who required advice and consent to appoint. That theory was blown away by the acquittal of Andrew Johnson. Even if they were right, does anyone doubt that the Senate would not consent to firing Sessions?

Schumer talking out of his ass. Obama sending National Guard troops to fight outside the USA without invasion or insurrection. THAT was unconstitutional.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

snoopydawg's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

I don't know why a president can't fire who he wants either. I would have more faith in what Dean says if he wasn't on board with Russia Gate. How sad that he is losing his reputation on this.

Wasn't it Bush who sent the guard outside the country first? Presidents have done so many things that go against the constitution. Wars without congressional approval, but then they don't seem to care about that. The soldier from Utah that was killed in Afghanistan was national guard and on his 4th deployment. Some have gone on more than 6-7 tours. Then there's stop loss that Bush did to troops because there wasn't enough troops to go and risk their lives for nothing. Well for profits.

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@snoopydawg @snoopydawg

When Eisenhower federalized the National Guard in Little Rock, it was not only good politics to use Arkansas troops, it was also Constitutional on the reasonable theory that the State government's defiance of a federal court order was legally insurrection.
Likewise, a claim could be made the Trump's sending the National guard to the border "to repel invasion" was Constitutional. I wouldn't make that argument but I can see how the argument could be made. Sending National guard troops top Iraq or Syria or Afghanistan cannot remotely be seen as repelling invasion of the USA or countering insurrection. Unless the USA claims those countries as US territory.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Centaurea's picture

"Inconsolable Jeff Sessions Tries to Commit Suicide by Smoking Joint"

https://politics.theonion.com/inconsolable-jeff-sessions-tries-to-commit...

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"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

I had just commented to somebody that I was glad Michigan legalized and Utah and Missouri legalized medically--because despite 2 years of trying, the attempts at reversing the legalization movement had gone nowhere. It was like a giant middle finger to Sessions, and I was happy about that.

Then, 2 hours later the news hit that Sessions was fired.

Two days that royally suck for Sessions. I can enjoy that!

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snoopydawg's picture

@apenultimate

The bill passed overwhelmingly, but it's not going to happen. The Mormon church is against it big time of course and the legislature is going to pass a 'compromise' bill that will make it basically worthless.

It has to be dispensed by a pharmacist from a medical examiners office and only certain conditions will be allowed. Only people who live 100 miles away can be able to grow their own plants and other silly things. When they meet to decide the bill the church gets to sit in on the meetings. The church sent its members a mailer telling them not to vote for it. Separation of church and state? This has never been done in Utah. Many people who voted against it said that it's a gateway drug and they don't want children to have access to it. Yeah... Utah has its clocks set back 20 years from the rest of the country.

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Pricknick's picture

@snoopydawg
Back in 1980 I was stationed at hell afb. Back then people would say "Welcome to Utah. Set your mind back 50 years."

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@Pricknick

Back in 1980 I was stationed at hell afb. Back then people would say "Welcome to Utah. Set your mind back 50 years."

"Ever been to Utah? Why?" -- U. Utah Phillips

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

snoopydawg's picture

@thanatokephaloides

But then there's places like these.

13 Privileges Utahns Have That The Rest Of The U.S. Doesn’t

I think the only thing we don't have is an ocean.

Smile

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@snoopydawg

I'm fine with preaching from the pulpit.

I'm not fine with paying for them to do it.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
snoopydawg's picture

@Pluto's Republic

In fact I just read that there is a case heading to the SC by churches wanting to remove the separation of church and state.

Kavanaugh is going to be a very busy boy. This is why he was confirmed and he would have been no matter what he did in his past.

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Not Henry Kissinger's picture

Sell telecoms and prisons.

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The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

WindDancer13's picture

Marijuana Stocks Spiked After Jeff Sessions Resigned

Nasdaq’s Alternative Harvest Marijuana ETF, a fund that bundles tradable assets for the cannabis industry, was up 5.6 percent in the hour after the Sessions announcement, with a peak share price of $36.97—a nearly $2 gain for the fund. On the day, the fund was up more than 7 percent at the close of trading.

Individual cannabis-company stocks are also seeing the effects of Sessions’s departure. According to CNBC, the Canadian company Tilray got a boost of 30 percent in the day’s trading, along with jumps of more than 8 percent for both Canopy Growth and Aurora Cannabis. All of these companies continued to see gains in the immediate extended-hours trading.

Also this: From snippet from an email I just received from MoneOn, a reminder:

When Richard Nixon fired Archibald Cox from the Watergate investigation, it became a tipping-point moment for lawmakers in his own party to finally decide that they had to act or risk forfeiting our democracy.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

TheOtherMaven's picture

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

@TheOtherMaven
the new AG decides to go after HRC and friends for charity fraud and/or their mishandling of classified documents.

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chuck utzman

TULSI 2020

Pluto's Republic's picture

...the moment he recused himself and cut Trump loose to twist in the wind. That was no secret; Trump's been snipping at Sessions ever since.

Trump knows that he did not collude with Russia or Puttin to win the election. The world has seen no non-silly evidence that Russia interfered with the 2016 election. Nor was there Russia-meddling evidence pertaining to the 2018 mid-term election, for that matter. Same liars, same lie. How 'bout that pending Syrian chemical weapons attack?

These are the distracting hoaxes that the corrupt intelligence agencies leaked to the public in order to further Neocon foreign policy goals. Now that their involvement is unmasked, they no longer want to talk about these hoaxes and false flags and are hiding behind "national security" as per usual. Mueller, of course, has nothing whatsoever because the collusion with Russia never existed in the first place. Assange has been silenced because he can prove that Russia did not deliver stolen emails to Wikileaks.

According to news I've heard today, Trump has no intention of firing Mueller. He wants Mueller to wind it up and present his case. If he is empty handed after two years and $20 million dollars — it's a witch hunt. If Mueller had any evidence at all, and he sat on it during the tax cut legislation, then he's a bastard. Either way, his bullshit is a distraction that provides cover for Democratic saboteurs and dead enders. He needs to put up or shut up.

It's time to look into Mueller's evidence tampering during the 9/11 Commission hearing.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato