On Sessions recusal: Before making decision, he consulted beyond permanent DOJ bureaucracy, which he knew wanted him to recuse. But others, outside conservative lawyers he trusted, also saw no option other than recusal. 1/9
Sessions still believes he had no choice and recusal was required. Told Trump so in notable fashion on Twitter last night. 2/9
Was recusal really Sessions' only option? Arguable. But fact is, howling Washington mob gets results, demanding investigation, playing to DOJ policies that require recusal. 3/9
Look at 2003, when howling Washington mob led to appointment of special counsel to investigate CIA leak affair. One of BS investigations of all time. Went on 3+ years when prosecutor knew identity of leaker at start. (And never prosecuted him!) 4/9
Off top of head, only time howling Washington mob did not get results was 1996-1997, when Clinton AG Janet Reno steadfastly refused to seek independent counsel to probe Clinton-Trie-Chung-Huang campaign finance scandal. 5/9
There was overwhelming case for independent counsel -- plus foreign adversary meddling in a US election! 6/9 washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/column…
But Reno (with Clinton's approval, of course) just flat stonewalled. Outrageous. To be fair, it was also after several other independent counsels, most notably Starr, were already investigating Clinton. 7/9
Could Sessions (and more importantly, Trump) have stonewalled the howling Washington mob like Reno and Clinton did? Unknown. But seems unlikely. And Sessions still believes he did right thing. 8/9
Sessions won't change mind, even if it costs him chance to win back his old Senate seat. 9/9 End. washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/byron-…
