Sessions: ‘I Have Not Been Improperly Influenced’ By Trump On DOJ Probes

Attorney General Jeff Sessions listens during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017 in Washington. Sessions is leaving open the possibility that a special counsel could be appoin... Attorney General Jeff Sessions listens during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017 in Washington. Sessions is leaving open the possibility that a special counsel could be appointed to look into Clinton Foundation dealings and an Obama-era uranium deal. The Justice Department made the announcement Monday in responding to concerns from Republican lawmakers. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) MORE LESS

Attorney General Jeff Sessions denied that he had been influenced by President Trump’s pressure campaign to launch Justice Department investigations into Democrats.

“I have not been improperly influenced and would not be properly influenced,” Sessions said at Tuesday’s House Judiciary hearing, while acknowledging that Trump is “bold and direct about what he says.”

The denial came in a line of questioning by House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), after Conyers pointed to Trump’s tweets calling for Justice Department probes into Democrats and slamming Sessions.

“I would say that that the Department of Justice can never be used to retaliate against political opponents. That would be wrong,” Sessions said, when asked if it was appropriate for a country’s leader to use the criminal justice system to retaliate against political opponents.

Monday evening, the Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said in a letter to House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) that senior Justice Department prosecutors would “evaluate” whether to open investigations into various Hillary Clinton-related matters, after Goodlatte requested a new special counsel investigation.

Conyers on Tuesday asked Sessions whether he would recuse himself from such a Clinton-related investigation, given his work for the Trump campaign.

I cannot answer that yes or no, because under the policies of Department of Justice, to announce recusal of any investigation would reveal the existence of that investigation,” Sessions said.

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  1. Avatar for dont dont says:

    I’m looking at the Sessions picture topping this article. Can’t tell if his eyes are brown, but I’m thinking that they must be because he is definitely full of shit.

  2. So he’s saying that he had not been improperly influenced by Trump’s improper actions intended to influence him

  3. He’s old enough to remember what happened to John Mitchell. His actions as AG may be despicable, but when it comes to taking marching orders from a President who’s heading down the road to impeachment, I suspect that not even Sessions is that stupid.

  4. “I would say that that the Department of Justice can never be used to retaliate against political opponents. That would be wrong,” Sessions said,

    It is wrong. It is what SESSIONS and TRUMP are threatening our country with…


    First they came for the muslims
    And Repub voters said ‘hell yeah’

    And then they came for the “gays”
    And Repub voters said ‘for they are damned’

    And then they came for black people standing (kneeling) against police brutality
    And Repub voters said ‘if you’re innocent, the bullets and beatings won’t hurt you’

    And then they came for our healthcare
    And Repub voters said ‘uhhhh…’

    And then they came for the teenage girls
    And Repub voters said ‘party over family!’

    And then they came for their political rivals
    And Repub voters said ‘lock her up!’

    And then they came for the air we breath and the water we drink
    And the Repub voters said ‘it was cold this month one day, global warming is fake news’

    And then they came and took all the money with tax reform
    And Repub voters said ‘I don’t understand tax stuff, but hey about my healthcare…’

    When the 0.1%'rs are isolated in their walled off, secure complexes of luxury, built from our tax funds.

    Will the Repub voters say ‘One day, I’m gonna rape the country and rape people like them!’

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