Pelosi on Sessions: 'We are far past recusal'

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill


BY OLIVIA BEAVERS - 03/02/17 09:43 AM EST

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday slammed Republicans calling for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from investigations into Russia, saying that’s not nearly enough.

“We are far past recusal. Jeff #Sessions lied under oath. Anything less than resignation or removal from office is unacceptable,” Pelosi tweeted.

Link to tweet

Pelosi first called for Sessions to resign late Wednesday, shortly after reports that Sessions met with Russia’s U.S. ambassador twice during last year’s campaign.

Sessions said during his January confirmation hearings that he had no contact with Russia. He said at the time: “I did not have communications with the Russians.”
Since the revelation, Sessions has faced rising calls from Republicans to recuse himself from any investigations into Russia’s connections to President Trump’s administration.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/321965-pelosi-on-sessions-we-are-far-past-recusal

[JTFrog]

1. k&r nt

[bucolic_frolic]

2. She has such a nose for what will fly and what won't

She was raised in a political household, and her lifetime of earned skills are priceless at this point

[MBS]

10. " " " " n/t

[ffr]

3. What does this say to our youth, when the AG lies to congress and gets caught

And law makers 'ponder' what they should do about it.

Our republic is in crisis. Republican agenda setters better act swiftly and decisively otherwise, they are as guilty as the perpetrators; Flynn, Manafort, Sessions, Ross, tRump and the rest of his red Russian allies.

This goes beyond lock them up. This steps into hanging for treason territory.

[Hortensis]

5. These people do at least belong in prison.

Absolutely agree. And since sentences should be proportional to the crime, effectively for life.

(Conservatives are the "hang 'em" or "burn 'em" people, something that literally frequently made me glad Hillary was physically out of reach.)

[BumRushDaShow]

11. We have been here before - literally 10 years ago with Gonzo

And the irony is so dripping (bold and italics) -

The Opinion Pages | Op-Ed Contributor
He’s Impeachable, You Know

By FRANK BOWMAN MAY 3, 2007

Columbia, Mo.

IF Alberto Gonzales will not resign, Congress should impeach him. Article II of the Constitution grants Congress the power to impeach “the president, the vice president and all civil officers of the United States.” The phrase “civil officers” includes the members of the cabinet (one of whom, Secretary of War William Belknap, was impeached in 1876).

<...>

The right of Congress to demand explanations imposes on the president, and on inferior executive officers who speak for him, the obligation to be truthful. An attorney general called before Congress to discuss the workings of the Justice Department can claim the protection of “executive privilege” and, if challenged, can defend the (doubtful) legitimacy of such a claim in the courts. But having elected to testify, he has no right to lie, either by affirmatively misrepresenting facts or by falsely claiming not to remember events. Lying to Congress is a felony — actually three felonies: perjury, false statements and obstruction of justice.

A false claim not to remember is just as much a lie as a conscious misrepresentation of a fact one remembers well. Instances of phony forgetfulness seem to abound throughout Mr. Gonzales’s testimony, but his claim to have no memory of the November Justice department meeting at which he authorized the attorney firings [font color="red"]left even Republican stalwarts like Jeff Sessions of Alabama gaping in incredulity.[/font] The truth is almost surely that Mr. Gonzales’s forgetfulness is feigned — a calculated ploy to block legitimate Congressional inquiry into questionable decisions made by the Department of Justice, White House officials and, quite possibly, the president himself.

Even if perjury were not a felony, lying to Congress has always been understood to be an impeachable offense. As James Iredell, later a Supreme Court justice, said in 1788 during the debate over the impeachment clause, “The president must certainly be punishable for giving false information to the Senate.” The same is true of the president’s appointees.

<...>

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/opinion/03bowman.html

[wishstar]

13. Meanwhile WH spokesman Spicer says people should be ashamed for asking Sessions to recuse

Trump and his hateful gang have been a frighteningly terrible example to our youth for many months now back to earliest days on his campaign

[SCVDem]

4. The last time I heard "I Did Not Have..."

Well, that led to an impeachment.

C'Mon Jefferson Beauregard, try to rig the system and let's see how that works out.

See what happens when you want to re criminalize marijuana?

LOCK HIM UP!!

[murielm99]

12. Jefferson Beauregard.

Can you believe that name? And he looks like a demented elf.

Usually I do not care what someone looks like. But the evil shows on the surface of these trumpeters.

[Orrex]

6. And to think...

All it took for Democrats to grow a spine was publicly verifiable and utterly irrefutable proof of deliberate and actionable wrongdoing.

Is there any reason to doubt that, if Sessions' perjury had happened behind closed doors and off-camera, that most Dems would opt to keep their powder dry?

[Marthe48]

7. Thank you for defending our country!

Here is an elected official upholding her sworn oath to defend the Constitution! Thank you!

[mpcamb]

8. Good Statement.

Dems need to do more of this forthright opposition to what's been coming down the chute.

[MBS]

9. Bravo, Nancy Pelosi! n/t