Tag: Jeff Sessions

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AG Jeff Sessions Questioned Regarding Russian Investigation

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions became the first cabinet member of Donald Trump’s administration to be questioned by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team looking into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Additionally, former FBI director, James Comey, has been interviewed by the special counsel’s team.

From The New York Times:

The interview with Mr. Comey focused on a series of memos he wrote about his interactions with Mr. Trump that unnerved Mr. Comey. In one memo, Mr. Comey said that Mr. Trump had asked him to end the F.B.I.’s investigation into the former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn.

After the president’s request was disclosed, the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, appointed Mr. Mueller as the special counsel to lead the Russia investigation and examine whether the president obstructed justice.

The attorney general announced in March that he had recused himself from all matters related to the 2016 election, including the Russia inquiry. The disclosure came after it was revealed that Mr. Sessions had not told Congress that he met twice with the Russian ambassador to the United States at the time, Sergey I. Kislyak, during the campaign.

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Trump Ordered White House Lawyer To Convince AG Jeff Sessions From Recusing Himself From Russian Probe

Without a doubt, this revelation moves the Trump White House closer and closer to a charge of obstruction of justice.

Trump wanted an Attorney General who would “protect” him.

Why would an innocent person need to be protected?

From The New York Times:

President Trump gave firm instructions in March to the White House’s top lawyer: stop the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, from recusing himself in the Justice Department’s investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s associates had helped a Russian campaign to disrupt the 2016 election.

Public pressure was building for Mr. Sessions, who had been a senior member of the Trump campaign, to step aside. But the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, carried out the president’s orders and lobbied Mr. Sessions to remain in charge of the inquiry, according to two people with knowledge of the episode.

Mr. McGahn was unsuccessful, and the president erupted in anger in front of numerous White House officials, saying he needed his attorney general to protect him. Mr. Trump said he had expected his top law enforcement official to safeguard him the way he believed Robert F. Kennedy, as attorney general, had done for his brother John F. Kennedy and Eric H. Holder Jr. had for Barack Obama.

Mr. Trump then asked, “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” He was referring to his former personal lawyer and fixer, who had been Senator Joseph R. McCarthy’s top aide during the investigations into communist activity in the 1950s and died in 1986.

The report goes on to say that just days before FBI Director James Comey was fired, aides for Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked congressional staffers if they had dirt on Comey. Clearly, there was a thought to try and smear the FBI director.

The extremely-nonpartisan Associated Press has now corroborated this story.

Not to be heavyhanded but it bears repeating – the Attorney General does not serve to protect the president.

It is the Attorney General’s job to enforce the laws of the United States.

There’s irony in Trump’s call for his own “Roy Cohn” given Trump’s own disloyalty to the infamous attorney once he was diagnosed with AIDS.

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AG Jeff Sessions: I’m Not Sure If Federal Workers Can Discriminate Against LGBTs

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

According to testimony before U.S. Senate Oversight Committee, Attorney General Jeff Sessions isn’t sure if federal workers can or cannot blatantly discriminate against LGBT people.

From Dominic Holden at ThinkProgress:

During Wednesday’s Justice Department Oversight Hearing, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions about the Department of Justice’s new “religious freedom” guidance. In particular, Durbin was concerned about how the guidance might enable anti-LGBTQ discrimination, asking Sessions to respond to several hypotheticals.

“Could a social security administration employee refuse to accept or process spousal or survivor benefits paperwork for a surviving same-sex spouse?” Durbin asked.

There was a long pause. “That’s something I never thought would arise, but I would have to give you a written answer to that, if you don’t mind.” Sessions responded.

Durbin countered, “I’d like to have that,” then launched right into another hypothetical. “Could a federal contractor refuse to provide services to LGBTQ people, including in emergencies, without risk of losing federal contracts?”

“Likewise, but I would say to you — are you citing Title VII for this? Or the guidance? I’m not sure that’s covered by it, but I’ll look.”

Sessions is famously anti-LGBT on just about every issue.

Watch the exchange below.

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News Round-Up: October 16, 2017

(via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Fitness model Rodiney Santiago (above) facing down Monday like a boss.

• Thanks to California’s newly signed Gender Recognition Act, folks will soon be able to identify as nonbinary, in addition to male or female, on state-issued identity documents, including driver’s licenses and birth certificates.

• Considering he has never been a friend to the LGBT community, eyebrows were raised when U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent an experienced hate crime lawyer to Iowa to aid in prosecuting a man accused of killing a transgender high school student.

• In pop culture news, original Charlie’s Angels star Jaclyn Smith says the ladies of the hit 1970s series are thinking about getting together for a reunion. In addition to Jaclyn (Kelly), the surviving “angels” are Cheryl Ladd (Kris), 66; Kate Jackson (Sabrina), 68; Tanya Roberts (Julie), 61; and Shelley Hack (Tiffany), 70.

• Out radio show/columnist Dan Savage has raised over $200K via his ITMFA website. Upon hitting the second $100K, he sent checks to Planned Parenthood ($33,333.33), the ACLU ($33,333.33) and the International Refugee Assistance Project ($33,333.34). The money was raised selling ITMFA (“Impeach The Mother Fucker Already”) buttons, t-shirts, tanks, hats, stickers, coffee cups, and lapel pins at www.ITMFA.org.

• Transgender hip hop artist Epiphany Mattel released her debut single, “Fix Yo Face,” which she says has an important message. “It’s about everyone going above and beyond with their appearance to stand out and be noticed at clubs today, but then they bring their scowl, a ‘resting bitch face,’ that makes them unapproachable,” explains Mattel.

“They’re so insecure with themselves, they push that negative energy on the rest of the party and make everyone else uncomfortable. It’s a party bitches… lighten the hell up,” she adds.

Watch the music video below:

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Attorney General Sessions Reverses Course On Policy Protecting Transgender Folks In Workplace

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Deeply disappointing but not a surprise by any means, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced today that his Department of Justice has reversed course on the Obama era position that federal law bans sex discrimination in the workplace.

Going forward the DOJ’s position is that Title VII does not offer any protections for transgender individuals in the workplace.

From Reuters:

The memo sent to U.S. Attorneys’ offices on Wednesday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions says Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 only prohibits discrimination on the basis of a worker’s biological sex, and not their gender identity.

Sessions rescinded a Justice Department memo from 2014 that said Title VII does protect transgender people, a position also taken by several federal appeals courts in recent years.

It was the Trump administration’s latest move to roll back Obama administration policies on LGBT issues. In August, President Donald Trump signed a memo directing the U.S. military not to accept transgender men and women as recruits, reversing a policy that allowed transgender people to serve openly.

And last month, the Justice Department appeared before a federal appeals court in Manhattan to argue that Title VII does not provide protections to gay and lesbian workers.

Yet another hostile move against the LGBTQ community from Donald “Better for the Gays” Trump.

Here’s just a few of the LGBTQ advocacy groups responding to the memo.

Stacey Long Simmons, Director of Advocacy and Action, National LGBTQ Task Force:

“This memo contradicts what is already established legal precedent. Courts across the country have agreed that sex protections include gender identity. The plain truth is that Attorney General Sessions is running the Justice Department with a clear anti-transgender bias, not current law.

“This is only the latest example of the administration’s broad reaching anti-LGBTQ policy changes. There is a pungent stench coming from the Trump/Pence Administration and its actors.”

Kellan Baker, Board of Directors, Equality Federation

“Sessions’ shameful memo is yet another purely political attack on some of the most vulnerable members of our community: transgender people like me.

“The vast majority of Americans and the courts agree that transgender people should have a fair opportunity to provide for ourselves and our families, free from discrimination on the basis of who we are.

“Even as this administration continues its attacks on LGBTQ communities and on our friends and allies, we will continue our fight to live and work safely and with dignity in the communities we call home.”

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News Roundup: July 25, 2017

Some news items you may have missed:

• Let’s hear it for the bears! Furball in focus (above).

• According to a new USA Today poll, Americans are split 42% yes/42% no on whether President Trump should be impeached.

• The Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army, or TQILA, is a newly-formed LGBT-centric unit of volunteers who have joined the fight against ISIS in Syria.

• Trump says Attorney General Jeff Sessions only endorsed him for president because of his “massive numbers” at campaign rallies. #brutal

• Always on the lookout for new out music? Check out this list of summer tunes by LGBT artists.

• Mark Ruffalo shared this pic of Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston cuddling with Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi on a recent flight. #Grrrr

A post shared by Mark Ruffalo (@markruffalo) on Jul 22, 2017 at 1:57pm PDT

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Trump On Jeff Sessions: “I Am Disappointed In The Attorney General”

During a press conference with the Prime Minister of Lebanon, Donald Trump was asked whether he wants his Attorney General to resign.

He never got to a direct answer to that question, but he did say he was disappointed in Attorney General Jeff Sessions, wants him to be tougher, and wants him to be tougher on leaks coming out of the intelligence agencies.

Watch below.

And, of course, there’s this:

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Donald Trump Goes After “Very Weak” AG Jeff Sessions Again

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Donald Trump continued his “Sessions obsession” by emasculating Attorney General Jeff Sessions in early morning tweets this morning, calling the AG “VERY weak:”

This comes just a day after he called Sessions “beleaguered” on Twitter while asking why more wasn’t being done to look at Clinton’s “crimes.”

Of course, the FBI did an exhaustive investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails and concluded last year there was nothing there to prosecute.

Sessions was the first U.S. Senator to support Trump during the campaign and has been extremely loyal to the Trumpster. Trump’s anger comes from Session recusing himself from any investigation into Russian meddling in the election. Trump told the New York Times last week he would have picked someone else if he’d known Sessions would recuse himself.

You can only imagine Trump expected Sessions to be a firewall between him and any investigations. #illegal

Radio host Hugh Hewitt asked Trump’s new Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci, if Trump wants Sessions out and Scaramucci responded, “You’re probably right.”

Listen below.

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President Trump Throws AG Jeff Sessions Under The Bus

In what can only be described as “stunning,” President Trump told the New York Times that had he known Attorney General Jeff Sessions would recuse himself on all matters pertaining to Russia, he would have never fired him. Trump says the decision to recuse was “very unfair to the president.”

In a remarkable public break with one of his earliest political supporters, Mr. Trump complained that Mr. Sessions’s decision ultimately led to the appointment of a special counsel that should not have happened. “Sessions should have never recused himself and if he was going to recuse himself he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else,” Mr. Trump said.

In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, the president also accused James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director he fired in May, of trying to leverage a dossier of compromising material to keep his job. Mr. Trump criticized both the acting F.B.I. director who has been filling in since Mr. Comey’s dismissal and the deputy attorney general who recommended it. And he took on Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel now leading the investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s election.

Trump also draws a red line in the sand saying Robert Mueller should not look into his family’s financial records, again raising the question, “What’s he hiding?”

It’s interesting how much Trump bashes the NY Times but then sits down with them for these lengthy interviews. It’s like he wants their approval so very badly.

Listen to the president below then head over to the New York Times for the wide-ranging interview.

UPDATE – AG Sessions told reporters today, “We love this job. We love this department, and I plan to continue to do so as long as that is appropriate.”

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News Round-Up: June 29, 2017

(image from Nashville Pride via Instagram)

Some news stories you may have missed:

• Pride Month 2017 is winding down, but it’s not over. World Pride this weekend in Madrid, Spain! #ColorMeJealous

• A new study shows 30% of lesbian couples still face rejection by wedding vendors. A huge majority of respondents said they’d be more likely to book a vendor that’s not only LGBT-friendly, but actively caters to the LGBTQ community. #MoneyTalks

• By a vote of 157-55, Serbian lawmakers have chosen 41-year-old out lesbian Ana Brnabic to become the nation’s first openly gay head of government.

• Former Fox News host Greta Van Susteren is now “former MSNBC host” as the political TV talker tweets she is “out at MSNBC.” In a world of liberal anti-Trump fury, her nascent show never caught on. Ari Melber, the network’s chief legal correspondent, will take over the 6PM time slot.

• Speaking to federal prosecutors at a Justice Department hate crimes summit in Washington, D.C. today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he will “aggressively” prosecute anti-transgender crimes. “We have and will continue to enforce hate crime laws aggressively and appropriately where transgendered individuals are victims,” the attorney general said. #ColorMeShocked

• For a little #TBT action and out music, let’s go back to this interview from my podcast with Tony Award winner Billy Porter regarding the release of his awesome album, Billy Porter Presents The Soul of Richard Rodgers.

Hit the play button below to hear several tracks from the collection as well as Billy’s inspiration for the project.