Exit interview with Jeff Sessions
Exit interview with Jeff Sessions
Jeff Sessions says he is "confident" that Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 elections will be handled "appropriately and with justification." In his only interview, when he was leaving the Justice Department on Wednesday, the former attorney general told me if he had to do it again, he would follow the advice of the department's ethics officers and he would refrain from supervising Mueller's investigation, the decision that angered President Trump. "No one is above supervision," he says. He did not expect the research to last so long, he said, and called the duration "unhealthy." But he says that "the country is committed to this course."
The discreet, disciplined and courteous Mr. Sessions, 71, refuses to comment on his conversations with White House officials about his dismissal. He says he has not decided his future plans: "I want a little time with my family and leave my head clear". Although he says he now feels more attracted to executive public service than to legislative, there have been speculations that he could run for 2020 for his former Senate seat, which Democrat Doug Jones won in a special election a year ago. Mr. Trump can live to regret the arrogant manner in which he treated his former adviser and still loyal cabinet member.
On what turned out to be the last day of his 21-month term, Mr. Sessions arrived at his office on the fifth floor of the Department of Justice shortly after 7 a.m., a little later than usual at 6:15. He had stayed up late watching the results of the election.
Just before 8, he began his senior staff meeting. He signed an order that establishes the principles that the federal government must follow before it can sue a police force, school or other local government entity and administer or supervise its operations. At 9:30 am, he met in a safe room with officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, for one of his informative sessions three times a week on terrorist threats and counterterrorism operations.
Then, shortly before the press conference following Mr. Trump's election, Mr. Sessions received the first of two unscheduled calls from the White House chief of staff, John Kelly. The president wanted Mr. Sessions to resign, immediately.
I spent the last 10 days with Mr. Sessions, interviewing other officials, friends and advisors. These conversations showed an irony: no member of the cabinet has been subjected to a more sustained abuse by the president, although it could be said that none has done so much to advance Mr. Trump's agenda.
That leads to some mixed verdicts on Mr. Sessions' tenure. Democrats and liberals applaud him for protecting Mr. Mueller by withdrawing from the investigation and defending his department and his staff. They also criticize his long-standing support for the administration's immigration and public order policies, not to mention his threats to cut federal funds for so-called sanctuary cities and his policy of "zero tolerance" towards foreigners illegally crossing the southern border. .
Mr. Sessions also has conservative critics. Passionate supporters of Trump argue that he should have prosecuted Hillary Clinton and investigated the misuse of surveillance orders to spy on Trump's former campaign adviser, Carter Page. Advocates reply that Mr. Sessions was scrupulous in enforcing the law impartially and loyally to the text of the Constitution. He gave priority to fighting crime and protecting religious freedom.
Small gestures, such as making sure that the family of all police officers killed or seriously injured in the line of duty receive a signed letter of condolence within 48 hours, helped Mr. Sessions become the " attorney general in favor of compliance with the law in years ". "Associate Vice Prosecutor Steven H. Cook says. His decision to end the restrictions of predecessor Eric Holder on civil forfeiture, the seizure of assets of criminal suspects, wins the praise of former prosecutor Reeve Swainston: "The sessions removed the restrictions that so frustrated those of us who fought against the cartels of the drug. "
It was strongly opposed to "judicial activism", particularly the practice of issuing interdicts at the national level. "A single federal district court ruling should not compromise the entire nation," he said in an interview last week. The district courts have issued more orders of this kind in the first two years of Mr. Trump than in the two mandates of Barack Obama.
Several Justice Department attorneys say the uncertainty about Mr. Sessions' future was stressful and depressing. "Political limbo is the worst," as they say. But another says that Trump's relentless attacks had helped Mr. Sessions reestablish the department's sense of independence.
If Mr. Sessions was worried, he hid it well. The Department's "Energizing Bunny," as a lawyer calls it, maintained a full schedule of meetings, trips, speeches and visits to police officers and prosecutors until Mr. Trump announced his dismissal in a Wednesday tweet. Neither Mr. Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence called him to thank him for his service.
Part of Mr. Sessions's contribution challenges the measure. By defending freedom of expression on university campuses, he made intellectual freedom a departmental priority. In its reserved and courteous form, it brought focus, discipline and predictability to an expanding empire with 115,000 employees. He also encouraged department officials beyond the "Chief Judge" to experiment with what works best in their towns, cities and states. "Maybe because he was a lawyer for the United States for a dozen years, the lawyers in the United States have enjoyed more independence than before," says Andrew Lelling, the United States attorney for Massachusetts.
Several lawyers rated the reports of low morality as exaggerated. Stan Pottinger, who served as assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Nixon administration, says such fluctuations in bureaucratic humor are not unusual, but because Justice Department officials focus on enforcing the law, " Morality rarely falls or soars as it does in other agencies. "
There were few signs of hostility towards Mr. Sessions among the more or less 200 officials who met and offered sustained applause when he was fired on Wednesday. The spill was so warm that the normally reserved Mr. Sessions was moved almost to tears. "It was moving," he says. "I told them that we were all part of the executive branch and we served to please the president, that we had protected the legal process that was vital to our work and that we should all be proud."
Mr. Sessions was the first senator to support the Trump candidate. He resigned to a secure seat in the Senate after two decades to join the administration. He would have every right to be bitter about having been degraded for months by his boss as a "traitor", an "idiot" and a "silly southerner". But if it is, Mr. Sessions is too kind and loyal to say so. "We had a good race," he says. "It has been an adventure."
Ms. Miller is a contributing editor of the City Journal and a contributor to Fox News.
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