Even though Obama spent the waning days of his administration boasting about how he had managed to spend 8 years in the White House without a single ‘scandal’, current Attorney General Jeff Sessions seems to have a slightly different view of how to define ‘scandal’.
But perhaps Obama just “did not recall” some of the highly controversial efforts of his administration including the intentional IRS targeting of conservative political groups, Eric Holder’s “Fast and Furious” gun running program which ultimately resulted in him being held in contempt of Congress and, of course, that infamous meeting between Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch on the tarmac in Phoenix just as the DOJ and FBI were contemplating whether or not to press charges against Hillary Clinton over her email scandal.
Appearing on the air with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Sessions was asked if he would consider designating an outside counsel “not connected to politics” to take a second look at Justice Department actions that provoked Republican ire over the last eight years. Hewitt contended during his radio interview that the department had become “highly politicized” during the Obama administration and floated the idea of a special review by an attorney with the authority to bring criminal charges and “just generally to look at how the Department of Justice operated.”
While Sessions was somewhat noncommittal, he did leave the door open, saying he would do everything he could to “restore the independence and professionalism of the Department of Justice.” According to the AP, Sessions said that “generally, a good review of that internally is the first step before any such decision is made” but continued on to say that he “would have to consider whether or not some outside special counsel is needed.”
Hewitt: Now let me switch to the Department itself, Mr. Attorney General. It has a bad eight years. I’m a proud veteran of the Department of Justice as you are, but the IRS case, the Fast and Furious case, Secretary Clinton’s server. The Department of Justice came under great criticism. How about an outside counsel, not connected to politics, to review the DOJ’s actions in those matters with authority to bring charges if underlying crimes are uncovered in the course of the investigation, and just generally to look at how the DOJ operated in the highly politicized Holder-Lynch years.
Sessions: Well, I’m going to do everything I possibly can to restore independence and professionalism of the DOJ, so we’re going to have to consider whether or not some outside special counsel is needed. Generally, a good review of that internally is the first step before any such decision is made.
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Sessions went on to say the outcome of the IRS case, in particular, remained “of real concern.” The Justice Department in 2015 found mismanagement at the tax agency but no evidence that it had targeted a political group based on its viewpoints or obstructed justice.
But we’re sure this is just all ‘much ado about nothing’ as they say…after all Loretta Lynch already said Bill just stopped by her plane to chat about his grandkids for 30 minutes…surely she wouldn’t attempt the mislead the American people just to protect her administration, right?
