{"id":7399,"date":"2017-05-11T23:17:44","date_gmt":"2017-05-11T23:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com?p=2646733&amp;preview_id=2646733"},"modified":"2017-05-11T23:17:44","modified_gmt":"2017-05-11T23:17:44","slug":"jeff-sessions-involvement-in-comey-firing-prompts-calls-for-him-to-resign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/jeff-sessions-involvement-in-comey-firing-prompts-calls-for-him-to-resign\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Sessions\u2019 involvement in Comey firing prompts calls for him to resign"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/jeff-sessions-involvement-in-comey-firing-prompts-calls-for-him-to-resign\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-10 large-centered small-12 columns\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta-date\">Published: May 11, 2017, 3:50 pm \u2022 Updated: May 11, 2017, 4:29 pm<span class=\"single-comments-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/05\/11\/jeff-sessions-james-comey-calls-resign\/79375\/#disqus_thread\" class=\"commentsNameLink\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">By <strong>Jennifer Rubin<\/strong>, <em> The Washington Post<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation. \u201cDuring the course of the last several weeks, I have met with the relevant senior career Department officials to discuss whether I should recuse myself from any matters arising from the campaigns for president of the United States,\u201d he said in his written recusal released on March 2. \u201cHaving concluded those meetings today, I have decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Any existing or future investigations. Related in any way.<\/p>\n<p>Sessions consulted with the president and coordinated the firing of James Comey. Recall that Comey had testified on March 20 that he was heading the Russia investigation:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\n\u201cI\u2019ve been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government\u2019s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. That includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia\u2019s efforts. As with any counterintelligence investigation, this will also include an assessment of whether any crimes were committed. Because it is an open, ongoing investigation, and is classified, I cannot say more about what we are doing and whose conduct we are examining.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>That is the investigation that Sessions promised to stay away from. Firing the man heading the investigation \u2014 especially if Sessions knew that the reason was not the one stated in Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein\u2019s May 9 memo \u2014 is a matter \u201carising from the campaigns for President of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sessions may have some explanation for why he chose to participate in the firing of Comey. But the attorney general may now be in considerable legal peril.<\/p>\n<p>Refusing to recuse oneself from a conflict or breaking the promise to recuse from a conflict is a serious breach of legal ethics. \u201cSomeone could file a bar complaint, and\/or one with DOJ\u2019s office of professional responsibility, if Sessions had a conflict of interest when it came to the firing decision, and if he did not follow the ethics rules, including those of DOJ by acting when he had a conflict of interest,\u201d legal ethics expert Norman Eisen tells me. \u201cThe fact that he broke his recusal commitment, if he did, would be relevant context, and violating an agreement can sometimes in itself be an ethics violation.\u201d In sum, Sessions has risked his law license, whether he realized it or not. He needs to testify immediately under oath; if there is no satisfactory explanation, he must resign. The alternative could be impeachment proceedings.<\/p>\n<p>The problem for Sessions (as it is for Trump) is legal as well. This returns to whether firing Comey constituted obstruction of justice. Lawfare blog supplies us with the persuasive analysis:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\n\u201cUnder 18 U.S.C. 1505, a felony offense is committed by anyone who \u2018corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law under which any pending proceeding is being had before any department or agency of the United States, or the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation in being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn accompanying code section, 18 U.S.C. 1515(b), defines \u2018corruptly\u2019 as \u2018acting with an improper purpose, personally or by influencing another, including making a false or misleading statement, or withholding, concealing, altering, or destroying a document or other information.\u2019 This is where obstruction of justice intersects with the false statements law. If you knowingly and willfully make a false statement of material fact in a federal government proceeding, you\u2019ve potentially violated 1001, and when you add an objective to influence, obstruct, or impede an investigation, you\u2019ve now possibly violated 1505 as well. Perjury can intersect with obstruction of justice in the same way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder the statute, a \u2018proceeding\u2019 can be an investigation. Section 1503 criminalizes the same conduct in judicial proceedings. So obstruction during an investigation might violate 1505, while if that same investigation leads to a criminal prosecution, obstruction during the prosecution itself would violate 1503. The individual also has to know that a proceeding is happening in order to violate the statute, and must have the intent to obstruct-that is, act with the purpose of obstructing, even if they don\u2019t succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The question for Sessions \u2014 and for the president \u2014 is whether there was intent to obstruct justice. (\u201cAs applied to the President and his staff, the first two elements appear to be a slam dunk. First, courts have given \u201cproceeding\u201d a broad definition. . . . Second, Comey himself had recently confirmed that the investigation was ongoing-in extremely public and publicized congressional hearings.\u201d) That leaves the matter of intent.<\/p>\n<p>While ordinarily one might find this hard to prove, here we have overwhelming evidence that the reason for the firing was not his handling of the Hillary Clinton email matter. Saying it was not about Russia constitutes a lie, part of an effort to interfere with the investigation. Firing the lead investigator to slow the investigation appears to be designed \u201cto influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law under which any pending proceeding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So Sessions faces a host of serious, potentially career-ending questions. \u201cAs I see it, the President\u2019s discharge of FBI Director Comey on a clearly pretextual basis for the obvious purpose (even if unlikely to be achieved) of shutting down the FBI\u2019s then-accelerating investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia was on its face an obstruction of justice, the very same charge that the first Article of Impeachment against Richard Nixon made,\u201d says constitutional law expert Laurence Tribe. \u201cAnd part of the evidence supporting the charge of AG Sessions\u2019 conscious involvement in that obstruction is the way in which he violated his public recusal commitment, something he cannot possibly have done in a fit of absent-mindedness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We are open to alternative explanations for Sessions\u2019s conduct, but what could they possibly be?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>On Thursday, at least four congress members called for Sessions to resign.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Kamala Harris of California:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sen. Kamala Harris calls for AG Jeff Sessions to resign, saying his actions call into question his objectivity <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CA3rXavH9E\">https:\/\/t.co\/CA3rXavH9E<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 CNN (@CNN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CNN\/status\/862769488613212161\">May 11, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sessions said he\u2019d recuse himself from anything to do with Russia. It\u2019s clear he did not. Calling for him to resign (again).<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RonWyden\/status\/862335957911162880\">May 10, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Rep. Maxine Waters of California:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Trump, you are the disgrace! You are a liar &amp; national embarrassment who has defied our constitution. You &amp; Sessions need to hit the road!<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Maxine Waters (@MaxineWaters) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MaxineWaters\/status\/862671248257581056\">May 11, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">What was Sessions&#8217; part in this? He claimed to have recused himself from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TrumpRussia?src=hash\">#TrumpRussia<\/a> investigation. I&#8217;ve said it before: he should resign. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wjKrYsRc37\">https:\/\/t.co\/wjKrYsRc37<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepDonBeyer\/status\/862381020343132160\">May 10, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Attorney General Jeff Sessions may have an explanation for why he chose to participate in the firing of James Comey. But he may now be in considerable legal peril. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6811,7119,7120,6964,6813,77,5667,9,5019,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[6816,7121,7122,6967,6818,2655,5673,5022],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7399"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}