ATTORNEY GENERAL/HILLARY CLINTON/JEFF SESSIONS/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump turned up the pressure on his own attorney general on Monday [7-24-17], calling him ‘beleaguered’ in a tweet questioning why the Justice Department is not investigating Hillary Clinton.
Mr. Trump’s comments are remarkable because if the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, is beleaguered of late it is largely because of Mr. Trump himself.
In an interview last week with The New York Times, Mr. Trump said he never would have nominated Mr. Sessions if he knew he intended to recuse himself from the investigation into Russian meddling and the Trump campaign. Those comments raised speculation that Mr. Sessions would quit, but he did not. Instead, Mr. Sessions said he would stay on as attorney general ‘as long as that is appropriate.’
Mr. Sessions has made it a priority to address violence, gangs and drugs — carrying out Mr. Trump’s inaugural pledge to end ‘American carnage.’ But his tense relationship with Mr. Trump has overshadowed his agenda at the Justice Department. Mr. Sessions was the first senator to endorse Mr. Trump’s candidacy and was an architect of his populist message on immigration and trade.
In his tweet, Mr. Trump returned to campaign rhetoric, suggesting his Democratic opponent should be the subject of an investigation into murky ties to Russia, not him.”
-Eileen Sullivan, “Trump Asks Why ‘Beleaguered’ Sessions Isn’t Investigating Clinton,” The New York Times online, July 24, 2017