If you're wondering what the congressional GOP response would be to this week's Michael Cohen/Paul Manafort bombshells, the answer is that Senate Republicans are signalling that they're fine with replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions in favor of someone who will end the Mueller probe once and for all.
Two key Republican senators signaled to President Donald Trump that he could replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions after the midterm elections in November, a move that would open the way for firing Robert Mueller or constraining his probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
“The president’s entitled to an attorney general he has faith in, somebody that’s qualified for the job, and I think there will come a time, sooner rather than later, where it will be time to have a new face and a fresh voice at the Department of Justice,” Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who may be in line to head the Judiciary Committee next year, told reporters Thursday. “Clearly, Attorney General Sessions doesn’t have the confidence of the president.”
Senator Chuck Grassley, the current Judiciary chairman, also changed his position on Thursday, saying in an interview that he’d be able to make time for hearings for a new attorney general after saying in the past that the panel was too busy to tackle that explosive possibility.
Several other Republicans rejected the idea of replacing the attorney general, while Sessions defended his performance in a statement Thursday. He said “we have had unprecedented success at effectuating the President’s agenda” and added, “While I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.”
In warning against ousting Sessions before the election, Graham called that possibility “a nonstarter” that “would create havoc” with Senate efforts to confirm Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as well as with the midterm elections in November.
But his statement that such a move could come after the election represents a significant shift from Graham’s stance a year ago, when he warned Trump publicly that if he fired Sessions “there will be holy hell to pay.”
It's pretty clear what Graham and Grassley want: once Brett Kavanaugh has a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, it doesn't really matter what Trump does anymore as far as they're concerned. Once Kavanaugh is sworn in, they'll have what they wanted: huge corporate tax cuts for the rich, two SCOTUS picks who will finish off the civil rights era for good, and an orange lightning rod to take all the blame.
It's all upside for them at this point. Maybe getting rid of Sessions and firing Mueller is the excuse they need to bag him up and bring in Pence. Maybe they're okay with him sticking around. But once Kavanaugh is there, the damage becomes permanent and irreversible. Trump will get free reign, because ultimately, it won't matter past that point.
Regardless, Jeff Sessions now must know that his time is up. Trump may not be able to fire Sessions directly right now, but the point of the news that he's being shown the door after the elections may be to get him to resign now, which would be optimal for Trump, allowing him to go with a Saturday Night Massacre plan as soon as possible and get rid of Mueller almost immediately.
He may stick around to secure his legacy, he may have congressional Republicans whispering in his ear to go now before that legacy transforms into "the loser who failed to protect Dear Leader Trump" and he becomes GOP public enemy #1. I don't know, honestly.
This morning, Trump went on a Twitter tirade that included this order for Sessions to investigate Trump's political opponents.
This is the real endgame now: Trump unleashed to indulge his autocratic impulses and the people who enabled him can walk away and rake in the spoils. And should anyone try to stop him, well, it would be a shame if he let the white nationalist militias freely indulge their killing fantasies, wouldn't it?
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