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DonViejo's JournalSchumer Calls For Sessions Resignation, Special Prosecutor
Source: Talking Points Memo
By MATT SHUHAM Published MARCH 2, 2017, 10:42 AM EDT
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Thursday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should resign after the Washington Post reported that Sessions met with the Russian ambassador twice during the presidential campaign.
"There cannot be even the scintilla of doubt about the impartiality and fairness of the attorney general, the top law enforcement official of the land. After this, it's clear attorney general sessions does not meet that test," Schumer said during a news conference. "Because the Department of Justice should be above reproach, for the good of the country, Attorney General Sessions should resign."
Sessions denied during a confirmation hearing that he had been in contact with Russia during the 2016 campaign, but his spokesperson told TPM Thursday that he had "met with the ambassador in an official capacity as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is entirely consistent with his testimony.”
Schumer also demanded that the acting deputy attorney general, Dana J. Boente, who was nominated as a U.S. attorney by former President Barack Obama in 2015, appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Russia's involvement in the 2016 campaign – a role that Sessions would otherwise have picked.
Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/schumer-calls-for-sessions-to-resign
Trump State Visit to U.K. 'Pushed Back to October' in Bid to Quell Protests
Source: The Daily Beast
The president is still coming, but the plan for a June visit is being quietly shelved amid fears of huge protests.
TOM SYKES
03.02.17 5:06 AM ET
Donald Trump has reportedly suggested to the British authorities that a proposed state visit to the U.K. in June be postponed in the hope that virulent opposition to him will fade.
British officials are said to be considering October as the new date because its parliament will be in recess, and it would be harder for British lawmakers to snub Trump by staging protests or boycotts in the Houses of Parliament.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, the delay is said to have been suggested by Trump during a phone call to British Prime Minister Theresa May last month.
A senior Whitehall source told the Mail: “The Americans have asked to push it back. They don’t want what will be one of his first big foreign trips to be overshadowed.”
Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/02/trump-state-visit-to-uk-pushed-back-to-october-in-bid-to-quell-protests.html
Jobless claims fall to nearly a 44-year low
Source: The Hill
BY VICKI NEEDHAM - 03/02/17 09:59 AM EST
Americans filed the fewest claims for jobless benefits in nearly 44 years last week, a sign that employers are hanging on to workers as the labor market tightens.
First-time claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending Feb. 25 decreased 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 223,000, the lowest level since March 31, 1973, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.
The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of the job market’s health, fell 6,250 to 234,250, the lowest level since April 14, 1973 when it was 232,750.
A Moody’s Analytics note on the report said that "initial claims are too good to be true."
"Though claims hit a new cyclical low, we caution against reading too much into it," the note said.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/finance/321968-jobless-claims-fall-to-nearly-a-44-year-low
Pelosi on Sessions: 'We are far past recusal'
Source: The Hill
BY OLIVIA BEAVERS - 03/02/17 09:43 AM EST
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday slammed Republicans calling for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from investigations into Russia, saying that’s not nearly enough.
“We are far past recusal. Jeff #Sessions lied under oath. Anything less than resignation or removal from office is unacceptable,” Pelosi tweeted.
https://twitter.com/NancyPelosi/status/837299682309259265
Pelosi first called for Sessions to resign late Wednesday, shortly after reports that Sessions met with Russia’s U.S. ambassador twice during last year’s campaign.
Sessions said during his January confirmation hearings that he had no contact with Russia. He said at the time: “I did not have communications with the Russians.”
Since the revelation, Sessions has faced rising calls from Republicans to recuse himself from any investigations into Russia’s connections to President Trump’s administration.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/321965-pelosi-on-sessions-we-are-far-past-recusal
Democrats vow that GOP will take more Trump votes
Source: The Hill
BY NAOMI JAGODA - 03/02/17 06:00 AM EST
Congressional Democrats have been forcing Republicans to cast tough votes on President Trump — and they’re just getting started.
In recent days, Democrats have triggered votes related to Trump’s tax returns, business relationships and ties to Russia in an effort to cast Republicans as complicit in the secrecy surrounding Trump’s finances.
None of the votes succeeded, but Democrats remain undeterred as they seek to fire up their liberal base ahead of next year’s midterm elections. “I think the Democrats should push hard on this issue and push hard whenever they get a chance,” said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon.
Bannon, who writes for the Hill’s Contributors blog, noted that there are about two dozen House Republicans whose districts Democrat Hillary Clinton won in the presidential election. “The more times Democrats can get Republican House members on (the) record of supporting Trump — the more the merrier,” he said.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/321919-democrats-vow-that-gop-will-take-more-trump-votes
Sessions: I Didn't Discuss Campaign With Russians
Source: The Daily Beast
NBC News cameras caught up with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday, the morning after reports emerged that he had spoken twice with Russias ambassador to the U.S. during the 2016 campaigna fact he did not disclose during his Senate confirmation hearings. I have not met with any Russians at any time to discuss any political campaign, Sessions told NBC News, continuing his camps insistence that while he met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, he did not mislead anyone by not disclosing the conversations. According to Sessions and his spokesperson, the meetings were entirely unrelated to the 2016 presidential campaign, despite the ex-senators role as a prominent Trump surrogate. Additionally, Sessions told NBC News that he will recuse himself from the Department of Justices probe of Russian meddling in the election whenever its appropriate.
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Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2017/03/02/sessions-i-didn-t-discuss-campaign-with-russians.html?via=desktop&source=copyurl
Sessions willing to recuse himself from Russia investigation
BY MARK HENSCH AND REBECCA SAVRANSKY - 03/02/17 08:00 AM EST
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said early Thursday that he would be willing to recuse himself from any investigation of Russian involvement in the Trump campaign if it's "appropriate."
"I have said whenever it's appropriate, I will recuse myself," he told NBC News. "There's no doubt about that."
Reports emerged late Wednesday that Sessions spoke twice with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 presidential campaign. Sessions did not disclose those conversations during his confirmation hearings for attorney general, testifying under oath that he “did not have communications with the Russians.”
Sessions defended himself during his comments with NBC News, saying he didn't discuss the presidential campaign with Russian officials.
more
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/321947-sessions-denies-talking-campaign-with-russia
Has Trump become the 'dont blame me' president?
By Abby Phillip and Ashley Parker March 1 at 9:07 PM
He blamed “the generals” for a raid that led to the death of a Navy SEAL in Yemen. He accused former president Barack Obama of fomenting protests against him and leaks within his administration. He blamed the judiciary for future terrorist attacks against the United States, and the media for the firing of his first national security adviser. He even blamed the weather for his smaller-than-desired inauguration crowd.
The one person President Trump never seems to blame is himself.
For a businessman who views the world through a binary win-or-lose lens, Trump has become the “don’t blame me” president — struggling to adjust to the reality of a job often revealed in shades of gray. The man in the nation’s highest elective office, who is eager to claim credit for positive developments, has yet to show signs of accepting responsibility or blame when things go wrong.
“When you run on a campaign of win, win, win, you never can admit a setback,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian who has met with Trump several times. “If that’s the case, that’s a pathological situation.”
Nearly six weeks into his presidency, Trump has regularly faulted his political opponents for many of the obstacles — some of them of his own making — that he has encountered so far. The buck rarely stops with him.
more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/donald-trump-has-become-the-dont-blame-me-president/2017/03/01/bbe706d2-fe01-11e6-8f41-ea6ed597e4ca_story.html?utm_term=.4fbb5d7f1ac1&wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1
It's now political suicide for Republicans if they don't call for deeper investigations on Russia
The Fix - Analysis
It’s now political suicide for Republicans if they don’t call for deeper investigations on Russia
By Chris Cillizza March 1 at 10:39 PM
President Trump's Russia problems just got a whole lot worse.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kisylak twice in 2016, according to The Washington Post, conversations that run directly counter to Sessions's assertions during his confirmation hearing to be the nation's top cop.
In that Judiciary Committee hearing Jan. 1o, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked Sessions whether he was aware of any contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russian intelligence officials. “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians,” Sessions replied.
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It does not take a political genius to understand how big a problem this is for Sessions, Trump and congressional Republicans more broadly. (Sessions's response — I talked to a lot people! -- isn't going to cut it.)
Before this report, most congressional Republicans were resistant to the idea of appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the contacts between Russia and Trump campaign officials and surrogates — insisting that the ongoing FBI investigation and congressional committees looking into the issue were more than enough.
more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/03/01/its-now-political-suicide-for-republicans-if-they-dont-call-for-a-special-prosecutor-on-russia/?utm_term=.259faf105444&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1
Trump's Russia headache gets worse, as Sessions struggles to spin undisclosed meetings
By James Hohmann March 2 at 9:19 AM
THE BIG IDEA: Jeff Sessions wakes up this morning with potentially serious legal and political problems.
-- The attorney general and his team are in damage-control mode, trying to explain confusing and seemingly inconsistent statements.
-- A handful of top Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi and Claire McCaskill, called for his resignation overnight. Others are expected to follow in the coming hours. Many more are clamoring for a special prosecutor, both to explore whether Sessions should be charged with perjury for making apparently false statements to Congress and more broadly to explore links between Trump campaign officials and Russia during the election. There is consensus among Democrats in both chambers that Sessions must, at the very least, immediately recuse himself from all Russia-related investigations to preserve the integrity of the Justice Department and the ongoing FBI investigation, something he has repeatedly resisted.
-- Notably, few Republican lawmakers are rushing to vocally defend their longtime colleague this morning. Some worry about what shoes might drop next.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on “Morning Joe” that Sessions should recuse himself. “I don’t have all the information in front of me, I don’t want to prejudge, but I just think for any investigation going forward, you want to make sure everybody trusts the investigation,” he said. “I think it’d be easier from that standpoint.”
more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/03/02/daily-202-trump-s-russia-headache-gets-worse-as-sessions-struggles-to-spin-undisclosed-meetings/58b745cae9b69b1406c75d1b/?utm_term=.1aecffd85f6f&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1
Top Republicans call on Sessions to recuse himself from Russia investigation
Source: The Washington Post
By Karoun Demirjian March 2 at 9:21 AM
Top Republicans said Thursday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should recuse himself from federal investigations of whether Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said during an appearance on MSNBC that Sessions should bow out to maintain “the trust of the American people.”
Minutes later, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) joined McCarthy’s call, tweeting that “AG Sessions should clarify his testimony and recuse himself.”
The calls from two of the House’s most prominent Republicans follow revelations that Sessions met with the Russian ambassador during election season. Under oath in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing in January, Sessions had said that he had not met with any Russian officials.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/top-gop-lawmaker-calls-on-sessions-to-recuse-himself-from-russia-investigation/2017/03/02/148c07ac-ff46-11e6-8ebe-6e0dbe4f2bca_story.html?utm_term=.b469e1808df3&tid=notifi_push_breaking-news&pushid=breaking-news_1488461677
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