Attorney General Sessions has asked the remaining 46 U.S. Attorneys appointed by Obama to resign...

[HipChick]

It's a purge...

[dalton99a]

1. Only Trump cultists need apply

[bettyellen]

2. Nope - he lied to the senate three times now- he gets to resign.

[MineralMan]

3. And Sessions is doing it boldly and openly.

The Justice Department will be completely compromised by this sort of thing. Same with every other Executive department and agency, I have no doubt.

Damn them!

[malaise]

5. That's the plan - purge them

Get thee to the greatest page

[Hortensis]

18. Wow! Right before this, ACLU filed ethics complaint against Sessions

over his communications with the Russian ambassador. But this a good distraction. Timing a coincidence?

Remember the scandal when Bush fired 8 because they wouldn't pursue political prosecutions of Democrats and other such accommodations? Far too much happening for this to be that huge. Have to wait for corrupt, politically motivated prosecutions, and refusals to prosecute.

[enough]

19. Both Bush and Clinton did the same thing. Pretty standard when President

takes office succeeding a President from the opposite party.

From Wikipedia:

By tradition, U.S. Attorneys are replaced only at the start of a new White House administration. U.S. Attorneys hold a "political" office, and therefore they are considered to "serve at the pleasure of the President." At the beginning of a new presidential administration, it is traditional for all 93 U.S. Attorneys to submit a letter of resignation. When a new President is from a different political party, almost all of the resignations will be eventually accepted.[11] The attorneys are then replaced by new political appointees, typically from the new President's party.[12][12][13] Despite this, their political impartiality in deciding which cases to prosecute and in arguing those cases before judges and juries with diverse views is essential.[14]

[dixiegrrrrl]

28. Actually, it is legal and normal.

Remember we discovered that during the USA AG scandal of 2008?
when Gonzales tried to fire 7 specific attorneys in the middle of Bush's term?
and it was pointed out that
"By tradition, U.S. Attorneys are replaced only at the start of a new White House administration.
U.S. Attorneys hold a "political" office, and therefore they are considered to "serve at the pleasure of the President."
At the beginning of a new presidential administration, it is traditional for all 93 U.S. Attorneys to submit a letter of resignation. When a new President is from a different political party, almost all of the resignations will be eventually accepted.
The attorneys are then replaced by new political appointees, typically from the new President's party"

This is from Wiki, but it is a valid entry.

[Dem2]

40. I thought this was true

Glad that I withheld an opinion until I was certain this was business as usual.

[Dustlawyer]

45. I hope they all make him fire them!!!

[Eliot Rosewater]

51. LIke i keep saying, it is over. get the nukes...otherwise, forget it.

Coup is happening, I wish there was a way to stop it, there isnt given liberals and patriots are non violent

[vlyons]

4. Isn't that what GWBush did when he came in?

So rigging the system continues unabated.

[shraby]

6. He tried but got caught at it and had to change his game plan.

[PoliticAverse]

11. No. Clinton fired 93 US attorneys when he came in, what Bush did...

and which generated controversy was a midterm firing of some US attorneys. See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy

[dixiegrrrrl]

29. No, he tried to do it halfway thru his term

at it got attention because it is normally done only at beginning of a new term.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

42. And it got even more attention when it came out they fired the attorneys for not...

... playing ball and prosecuting Democrats for bullshit trumped up charges.

[dixiegrrrrl]

48. And we thought that was most crooked thing possible

till now.
I blame shrub's voters for letting his bar lowering ass into the WH.....

What does it say about the mentality of this country as a whole which put Trump even into the race????

[Renew Deal]

7. Does that include Preet Bharara?

Criminals will rejoice.

[HootieMcBoob]

39. Yes, it does include him.

According to MSNBC it does include him. Apparently, he was surprised because he says he was told by Trump during the campaign that he would be kept on.

[shraby]

8. The current purgerer should not be allowed to get rid of decent people.

[machoneman]

26. FRIDAY NIGHT MASSACRE! Shades of Richard Milhous Nixon! n/m

n/m

[Liberal In Texas]

34. +1

[SickOfTheOnePct]

9. They're political appointees

I would have expected them to resign already.

[Angry Dragon]

10. Have link??

[HipChick]

13. NYT are reporting..

[Angry Dragon]

20. thank you

[Nictuku]

12. I knew this was coming .... But I couldn't find this being reported anywhere

... do you have a link? Where did you hear this?

[Nictuku]

16. I'm seeing some reports now

I remember when Bush did the big purge of US Attorneys, and there was a big deal made of it because these people are usually considered career officials.

I found a link discussing the issue: https://thinkprogress.org/feinstein-u-s-attorneys-are-not-political-appointees-f8e86001d685#.qr7bph3kp

[Exilednight]

25. These are apoointees, not career investigators.

Bush purged career employees, not political appointees.

[dixiegrrrrl]

30. Not true....they are political appointees

AND it is normal to replace them when a new party comes into the White House.

By tradition, U.S. Attorneys are replaced only at the start of a new White House administration. U.S. Attorneys hold a "political" office, and therefore they are considered to "serve at the pleasure of the President."
At the beginning of a new presidential administration, it is traditional for all 93 U.S. Attorneys to submit a letter of resignation. When a new President is from a different political party, almost all of the resignations will be eventually accepted.
The attorneys are then replaced by new political appointees, typically from the new President's party

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy

[drray23]

14. Its customary for political appointees to resign

When president Obama took over, all the ag were replaced. Same for previous presidents. The fact it did not happen earlier is probably because the Trump administration wanted them to stay since they have troubles staffing up.


Now this raises the interesting case of dana boente who is the deputy ag. He replaced yates when she was fired. Boente was appointed by President Obama.

If he has to go , the Trump admin will have an interesting problem. Session recused himself from the russian investigation case. The deputy ag is supposed to take over. Wonder who that will be ??

[Nictuku]

17. Not all. 1/3 were not replaced.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/obama-us-attorneys/

[dixiegrrrrl]

33. Yet, maybe?

or....maybe they fall into an accepted belief system?

[DefenseLawyer]

22. It is customary, but Obama didn't replace all of them. I wish he had. n/t

[Amaryllis]

24. THey had hearings on the new one T nominated on Tuesday. Rod Rosenstein.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rod-rosenstein-trump-doj-russia_us_58bdb60be4b09ab537d588a3?section=us_politics

[Tommy_Carcetti]

15. Link? nt

[DefenseLawyer]

21. I actually don't have a huge problem with that, in the abstract.

If we have a Democrat in the White House and a reasonable Attorney General, there is no reason he or she should be required to have some Republican appointee stay on the job. Unfortunately President Obama tried to be reasonable and bipartisan and he did let a lot of wing nut Bush US Attorneys stay on the job.

[Nictuku]

27. The politicization of our Justice System troubles me a great deal

... as I just read when looking into this, Bill Clinton did replace all of them, and Reagan before him. Prior to that I didn't find much.

[herding cats]

23. It would appear at least some were asked to be out by the end of the day!

Jonathan Martin‏ @jmartNYT
One Dem member of congress tells me US Attys in this member's state being told "to be out by COB today"

Maggie Haberman‏ @maggieNYT
The DoJ is asking United States Attorneys to submit resignations immediately, standard practice for POTUSes,but occurring w sudden scramble
https://mobile.twitter.com/jmartNYT/status/840296662656569344

Why the frenzied rush all of a sudden?

[yallerdawg]

31. US Attorneys are political appointees.

Judges are political appointees.

Where did we ever get the notion "justice is blind"?

[Ilsa]

32. Does he have replacements yet, or is he going to do all the work himself? ;-( .. nt

[littlemissmartypants]

36. EXACTLY. This will be interesting.

♡llsa

[world wide wally]

35. As Nancy Reagan said, " Just say fuck no"

Make them spend time and energy getting you to leave.
Keeps them from effecting the rest of us as much.

[littlemissmartypants]

37. What happens if they refuse?

Hand cuffs? Perp walk frog marched ?

[SickOfTheOnePct]

44. If they refuse to resign

they'll simply be fired.

[littlemissmartypants]

58. I would chain, tether myself to my desk.

Thanks for the reply SickOfTheOnePct. ♡

#resist

[yuiyoshida]

38. SEE THIS is how REPUBLICANS OPERATE...

They Remove all the DEMOCRATS so only REPUBLICANS can rule. 共和党員は地獄に行く！

[ManiacJoe]

53. All the Democratic presidents did the exact same thing.

There is nothing special going on here. It is common practice for both parties.

[yuiyoshida]

55. Sure why not, lets make it a

PURE party, than we can blame them for all the shit they do, not that they would give a flying crap about any of it.

[orangecrush]

41. Gee, you don't think the new ones will target Democrats, do you?

... You know, mine for detrimental info, wiretaps, Tommy Chong, etc. ....

[HipChick]

47. Let me get back to you on that..

[orangecrush]

49. ...

Railroaded by Bush appointed feederal prosecutor Mary Beth Buchanan out of Pittsburgh, Pa.

Tommy went to jail because they threatened to jail his family, as part of a plea bargain.

[orangecrush]

50. Expect shit like this, only on steroids...

Nice Dreams had a policy in place for refusing to sell bongs to states where the statute was being enforced. Federal agents, disguised as head-shop owners, pressured Paris Chong to sell them his pipes and deliver them through the mail to a fictitious shop in the Pittsburgh suburb of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. When Paris persistently refused, agents went to the place of business in person and ordered a massive quantity of out of stock merchandise. The merchandise was crafted but not picked up and sat idle in the warehouse as federal agents again pressured Paris to ship it. To get the merchandise out of his warehouse, Paris eventually agreed to ship it. In a Plea bargain, Chong agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute drug paraphernalia in exchange for non-prosecution of his wife, Shelby, and his son, Paris. Federal Prosecution admitted to being harsher on Chong in retaliation, citing Chong's movies as trivializing "law enforcement efforts to combat drug trafficking and use."[3


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pipe_Dreams

[HipChick]

52. Yep...

[Binders Keepers]

43. Announcement released Friday evening....

What a surprise!

[Cha]

46. FO russian stooge

[KingCharlemagne]

54. Gleicschaltung - nt

[Bradical79]

56. Can they just say no? -nt

[ManiacJoe]

57. I have often wondered about this.

Why resign?
Why not force them to fire you? Collect unemployment insurance?