Jeh Johnson Defends Sessions on Recusal: Trump Brought Risk On Himself

UNITED STATES - MARCH 8: Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security, is sworn into a Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee hearing in Dirksen Building on the department's budget submission fo... UNITED STATES - MARCH 8: Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security, is sworn into a Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee hearing in Dirksen Building on the department's budget submission for FY2017, March 8, 2016. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS
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A former secretary of homeland security defended Attorney General Jeff Sessions after the President went on the offensive during an interview with the New York Times Wednesday, saying he wouldn’t have hired Session if he had known the attorney general was going to recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation.

“He recused himself because he was involved in the campaign, at least he said that’s why he was recusing himself. It was not because of his Senate testimony about contacts with Russian government officials and basically Jeff Session had no choice,” Jeh Johnson said Thursday, appearing on CNN.

He said President Donald Trump “brought that risk” to his administration by hiring someone who worked for his campaign.

“The President knew that he was hiring someone to be the chief law enforcement officer who had been involved in his campaign, so there’s a certain level of risk you assume by doing that,” he said. “And, look, there are all kinds of ways to express displeasure with one of your cabinet officers. This was really throwing your own attorney general under the bus, which is obviously not good for his morale.”

He said he was surprised by Trump’s comments and that he had not “ever seen a president throw under the bus one of his own cabinet officers in this way, so very publicly.”

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  1. “The President knew that he was hiring someone to be the chief law enforcement officer who had been involved in his campaign, so there’s a certain level of risk you assume by doing that,”

    Not for anyone worthy of the office of President of the United States, there isn’t.

  2. Well, yeah, he brought on the risk himself.

    But since Duncie never takes responsibility for anything and since he’s never been accountable to anyone except those Russian banks, he has absolutely no idea of what “conflict of interest” means. Other than “they’re trying to hurt MEMEMEMEMEMEMEEEEEEEEE!” and “They’re picking on MEMEMEMEMEMEMEEEEEEE!”

  3. Logic doesn’t work with Donnie, only perverted, self-centered emotionalism. He’s an immature man-child.

  4. Trump seems to be referring to himself in the third person with increasing frequency.

  5. Avatar for sanni sanni says:

    Now we all see the origins of the obsequious start to the first cabinet meeting. This is the first time he has gone public throwing one of them under the bus, but no doubt in private a number of them have been thrown down.

    It is like there was a second oath of office each had to take, and this one places Trump as higher than the country or constitution.

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