Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John McCain (R-AZ) were best friends in the Senate. As McCain grew sicker and sicker, people were optimistic that Graham would lift up the Arizona’s mantle and carry on. Unfortunately, the opposite appears to be happening.
The South Carolina senator golfs with POTUS and appeared to put a hold on the big man firing his own Attorney General (AG) Jeff Sessions. All that changed in an interview on NBC’s Today Show.
Sessions has many deep flaws. Not the least among them has been the unconscionable act of ripping children from the arms of immigrants seeking asylum from certain death. However, he has stood firm between the man in the Oval Office and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Mueller instituted the probe into Russia’s attack upon the U.S. elections and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. It appeared that Trump’s only beef with Sessions was that he recused himself from the investigations oversight.
Trump has made no secret of his sense of betrayal. He publicly announced that he wanted Sessions to protect him from the special counsel’s investigation. If Sessions were to follow the law, he had to recuse himself. He is not the commander-in-chief’s AG. He is the people’s AG.
In a Fox News interview, the president once again called Mueller’s investigation “a witch hunt.” He also said:
‘(Sessions) never took control of the Justice Department.’
The AG made a rare response to Trump. He said, that under his command:
‘(The Department of Justice would not be) improperly influenced by political considerations.’
Earlier Graham said:
‘(Trump is) entitled to an attorney general he has faith in.’
The senator appeared on NBC’s Today Show and made this surprising announcement. He said that Trump should have an AG he trusts:
‘You have to replace him with somebody who is highly qualified and will commit to the Senate to allow Mueller to do his job. Nobody is going to take Jeff’s place that doesn’t commit to the Senate and the country as a whole that Mueller will be allowed to finish his job without political interference. Here’s what I believe about Mueller: He’s a fine man. He’s not on a witch hunt. Let him do his job.’
Graham told the Today Show host that thus far, he has seen “no evidence of collusion to this point:”
‘At the end of the day, if there is collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, that will be it for me. Anything else will be just noise.’
Other Republican senators have told the president that he would have trouble getting another AG confirmed during the Mueller probe. Graham said:
‘This relationship is beyond repair, I think.’
The senator hinted that there was more to the problems between Trump and Sessions than just the special counsel’s investigation:
‘It’s a pretty deep breach. (Sessions is) not the only man in the country that can be attorney general. This is a dysfunctional relationship. We need a better one.’
Graham added that should another person be selected to replace Sessions, that individual would have to “promise” to let the Mueller investigation continue. If we look to the Supreme Court confirmation hearings, we can see how flimsy those promises can be.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
