John Solomon and Buck Sexton interviewed President Trump on Tuesday September 18th, 2018, in the Oval Office. The interview covered a variety of subjects and Solomon has posted the transcript [SEE HERE]. The interview reveals some new information, such as President Trump’s 2016 gut instinct to fire FBI Director James Comey, and his advisors –likely Steve Bannon– talking him out of it.
Additionally, within the interview President Trump notes he has not seen the content of the documents he had directed to be declassified; he is relying on the group within congress -Nunes, Jordan, Goodlatte, Meadows, Zeldin, etc.- who have investigated the details and made the requests to the executive office for declassification.
Perhaps the most important aspect to the interview is President Trump putting to rest his direct, brutally honest and forthright opinion of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
(Via The Hill) Buck Sexton: Mr. President, why haven’t you replaced your attorney general, given all the things you’ve said and everything else that’s come out about his actions, or inactions?
President Trump: I’m so sad over Jeff Sessions because he came to me. He was the first senator that endorsed me. And he wanted to be attorney general, and I didn’t see it. But he came very strongly he really wanted to be. And, I let him be.
And then he went through the nominating process and he did very poorly. I mean, he was mixed up and confused, and people that worked with him for, you know, a long time in the Senate were not nice to him, but he was giving very confusing answers. Answers that should have been easily answered. And that was a rough time for him, and he won by one vote, I believe. You know he won by just one vote.
President Trump: He won by one vote, and it’s so sad what happened. Then he gets in and probably because of the experience that he had going through the nominating when somebody asked him the first question about Hillary Clinton or something he said ‘I recuse myself, I recuse myself.’ And now it turned out he didn’t have to recuse himself. Actually, the FBI reported shortly thereafter any reason for him to recuse himself. And it’s very sad what happened. In the meantime, I don’t have an attorney general. It’s very sad. I’m not happy at the border, I’m not happy with numerous things, not just this.
Buck Sexton: Are we going to get a wall Mr. President?
President Trump: OK, well, let me just finish this. We’ll see what happens, I mean, we’ll see what happens. A lot of people have asked me to do that. And I guess I study history, and I say I just want to leave things alone, but it was very unfair what he did. And my worst enemies, I mean, people that, you know, are on the other side of me, in a lot of ways including politically, have said that was a very unfair thing he did. You know, you’ve seen that, when he recused himself. So anyway, so, so we’ll see how it goes with Jeff. I’m very disappointed in Jeff. Very disappointed.
[…] everyone of my Cabinet members is doing great. I just have one group that’s not been good. You know what that group is. (read full interview)
This is a prime example of the need to be intellectually honest and accept President Trump at his word. There is a tremendous amount of false-theory being cited by people struggling to accept the failure of AG Sessions to support the objectives of President Trump. “Trust the plan”, and/or “trust Sessions” are the most well-known proclamations.
Failure to modify and accept reality -against the backdrop of new information- leads to misplaced interpretations, cognitive dissonance, intellectual dishonesty and, even worse, creates a false perception of what is possible. Keep absorbing information without rational and logical discernment long enough, and you get ridiculous “Q Theories” and grand “Stealth Jeff Sessions” plans.
AG Jeff Sessions is recused from investigating corruption within the 2016 election, operation ‘spy-gate’, operation ‘crossfire hurricane’, and the Russia investigation. The same career OLC lawyers within the system convinced Sessions of his conflicts, and have carved the Attorney General out of the investigative processes within the DOJ.
AG Sessions did not plan with President Trump for the declassification directive. Sessions is recused:
Tashina “Tash” Gauhar – Yes, the DOJ/FBI lawyer at the heart of the Clinton-email investigation; the DOJ/FBI lawyer hired by Eric Holder at his firm and later at the DOJ; the DOJ/FBI lawyer who was transferred to the Clinton probe; the DOJ/FBI lawyer at the epicenter of the Weiner laptop issues, the only one from MYE who spoke to New York; the DOJ/FBI lawyer who constructs the FISA applications on behalf of Main Justice;…. just happens to be the same DOJ/FBI lawyer recommending to AG Jeff Sessions that he recuse himself….
But wait, do you notice how Dana Boente (former interim head of DOJ-NSD) was participating with Peter Strzok’s lead DOJ aide “Tash” Gauhar in the discussion which recommended Attorney General Jeff Sessions should be recused? Sessions’ official announcement came immediately after this meeting on March 2nd, 2017.
Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente retired from the DOJ in October 2017. In January 2018, amid the beginning of the sunlight furor upon the FBI, Director Christopher Wray re-hired Dana Boente as Chief Legal Counsel for the FBI.
When all those FBI lawyers are showing up with Lisa Page, Peter Strzok and Bruce Ohr during committee hearings, and telling them not to answer questions about their contacts with the media etc. who is in charge of those FBI lawyers? The same Dana Boente.
The officials within the system of the administrative state are protecting the administrative state from scrutiny. This protectionist outlook transfers to the Inspector General, and was evidenced in how the “summary of findings” within the IG reports did not match the details of fact within 600+ pages of evidence.
Rational discernment and the application of common sense logic is important when evaluating the battle inside the executive branch of government. The institutions of the FBI and DOJ appear to have been thoroughly corrupted by political operatives; and more extreme ideologues were rewarded and promoted during the prior administration.
Many of those politicized officials within the system are still present. The election changes the leadership, but the underlying organizational corruption remains, albeit under new management.
If the goal of management to save the institution is stronger than the goal to take the institution down to brass-tacks, eliminate corruption and rebuild, then the corrupt elements are able to survive the leadership change. By all measures, this is the current status of the FBI and DOJ.
Because the corruption happened during their tenure, current officials within the FBI, DOJ and much of the larger intelligence apparatus, are not in alignment with the reform goals demanded by change-agent President Trump. Their goal is to fight Trump’s goals.
“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones.”
From June 2017 through May 2018, CTH was optimistic the Cabinet Leadership within the DOJ and FBI would accept the scale of corruption within their institutions and embrace reform. However, as more and more tripwires were crossed; and with the scale of the corruption even more visible; and with the calendar moving forward without any action; we were forced to accept the goals of AG Sessions, DAG Rosenstein and Director Wray were not reform goals – they are preservation goals.
The lack of action from the release of the prior two IG reports; the inability of the FBI to even acknowledge the severity within the May 2018 report on FBI misconduct; and the compounded issues surrounding the DOJ and FBI approach toward admitted classified intelligence leaker James Wolfe; leads only to one possible conclusion. The downstream consequences of the corruption are so entirely devastating, the sunlight is actually a risk – and must therefore be ‘managed’.
Conversely, outside the executive branch there are voices in congress holding no vested interest in the systemic corruption, and therefore they are in alignment with President Trump’s demands.
Members within the executive branch are working with the other side and holding Trump hostage while trying to wait-out the election hopeful to have a change in congressional power. This preserves their institutions and executes their goals.
It is a small valiant team within the legislative branch who are trying to help the President and force officials within the cabinet to admit the corruption.
Remember, there are multiple key leadership retirements within congress from members who are ambivalent to the outcome for President Trump. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan; Chairman of Oversight Committee Trey Gowdy and Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Bob Goodlatte are all leaving.
We need to campaign hard, and turn out the vote en masse in November, to support this sea-change moment in congress. We can actually achieve MAGA-minded congressional representation if we fight for it.
