Donald Trump changed DOJ order of succession weeks ago, knowing Jeff Sessions wouldn’t last
Back on February 9th of this year, Jeff Sessions officially became the Attorney General of the United States. On that same day, Donald Trump signed an executive order changing the line of succession at the Department of Justice that would kick in if Sessions had to resign or recuse himself. In so doing, Trump elevated someone loyal to himself to the number two spot, ensuring that person would be prosecuting the Russia investigation if Sessions stepped aside.
Now that Jeff Sessions has been exposed as having repeatedly colluded with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and discussed Ukraine policy with him, while he was acting as a Donald Trump campaign adviser, the reason for Trump’s executive order seems clear. Sessions was complicit in the Trump-Russia conspiracy, and he was sloppy about it, and then he lied under oath about it during his confirmation hearings. If Trump knew that Sessions had been meeting with Russia, then he knew that Sessions had perjured himself – and thus he knew that Sessions wouldn’t last long on the job one way or the other.
Donald Trump’s executive order elevated Dana Boente into position to take over the Trump-Russia investigation if Jeff Sessions were out of the picture. Boente is the same person whom Trump appointed as acting Attorney General a month ago, after he fired Sally Yates from the role. Trump presumably put Boente in that position because he knew Boente would be loyal to him in the investigation.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this storyline is that, as reported by Raw Story today, President Barack Obama had himself altered the DOJ line of succession shortly before leaving office, specifically to keep Dana Boente out of it. Obama seemingly suspected that Boente was some kind of Trump patsy, and was trying to prevent Boente from being in position to take over the Trump-Russia investigation. Contribute to Palmer Report
