Cabinet making with President Elect Trump

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/18/jeff-sessions-as-attorney-general-could-mean-trouble-for-hillary-clinton-and-her-familys-foundation/
 Jeff Sessions as attorney general could mean trouble for Hillary Clinton and her family’s foundation
By Matt Zapotosky November 18 
Trump's Transition: Who is Jeff Sessions?  Play Video1:29
President-elect Donald Trump announced Friday that he plans to nominate Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as attorney general. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)
If Jeff Sessions is confirmed as attorney general, it will mean likely sweeping changes for the Justice Department, especially on civil rights policies.

It also could mean even more investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email practices and her family’s charitable foundation.

Sessions, a Republican senator from Alabama who previously served as a U.S. attorney, has been an outspoken critic of the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server, saying on Fox Business Network last month he was “uncomfortable with the way the investigation was conducted” in part because witnesses were not compelled to testify before a grand jury. He also has said it “seems like” the FBI had not fully investigated the dealings of the Clinton Foundation while Clinton was secretary of state and that, in his view, Clinton might have used her position to benefit the foundation.

“The fundamental thing is you cannot be secretary of state of the United States of America and use that position to extort or seek contributions to your private foundation,”  Sessions said on CNN. “That is a fundamental violation of law and that does appear to have happened.”

[Jeff Sessions is expected to bring sweeping changes to the Justice Department]

Those statements are important because, as attorney general, Sessions would have the power to reignite the email investigation, which FBI Director James B. Comey has recommended be closed without charges. He also could breathe new life into a separate investigation of the Clinton Foundation — which agents in the FBI’s New York Field Office have wanted to probe, despite the misgivings of career-public-integrity prosecutors about a lack of real evidence.

Pursuing such cases, of course, would be called a form a political retribution by critics. When Donald Trump said during a debate that he would appoint a special prosecutor to look into the Clinton email case and Clinton would “be in jail” if he were president, even former attorney general Michael Mukasey — long a critic of Clinton and her private email server — said he would advise against such actions.

[One of Clinton’s biggest critics in email case says he’d tell Trump not to jail her]

“It would be like a banana republic,” Mukasey said at the time. He added later: “Putting political opponents in jail for offenses committed in a political setting, even if they are criminal offenses — and they very well may be — is something that we don’t do here.”

But as president-elect, Trump has not backed down from the idea. Asked on “60 Minutes” if he would appoint a special prosecutor, he said, “I’m going to think about it” and later, “She did some bad things.” He ultimately did not answer the question.

“I don’t want to hurt them. I don’t want to hurt them. They’re, they’re good people. I don’t want to hurt them. And I will give you a very, very good and definitive answer the next time we do ‘60 Minutes’ together,” Trump said.

Representatives for Trump, Sessions and the Clinton Foundation did not immediately return messages seeking comment. A Clinton campaign spokesman said they were not commenting on any cabinet appointees.

Comey has said “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring a case against Clinton for her email practices, which allowed classified material to traverse a private server. Sessions seems to take a different view and has criticized the FBI’s tactics in coming to that conclusion. On “The Howie Carr Show” last month, he said he “tried not to be critical of Comey at first, but more that comes out, the more I’m concerned about it.”

He questioned in particular why top Clinton aide Cheryl Mills was allowed to sit in on Clinton’s FBI interview and said congressional hearings would be necessary to assess what happened. (Comey has said Mills was Clinton’s lawyer, and the FBI has no ability to control who she brings to a voluntary interview).

“I am troubled about it,” Sessions said. “A case of this high-profile should have been handled as clean as possible, with the least possible ability for anybody to question what was done, and they left a lot of things out there that caused real questions in my mind, and it’s troubling.”

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Comey himself is in the middle of a 10-year term, though it is technically possible — if politically difficult — for Trump to fire him. Trump declined to comment on that question during his “60 Minutes” interview.

Even if Sessions were to accept Comey’s recommendation on the email investigation, that would not preclude pursuing a separate investigation of the Clinton Foundation. Agents in the FBI’s New York Field Office pitched such a probe to career-public-integrity prosecutors earlier this year. Those prosecutors, and at least some in FBI leadership, though, believed they did not have enough evidence to proceed. That left some agents frustrated, though it did not end the matter entirely.

In August, Justice Department officials learned New York agents were still taking steps to advance their case and advised them to hold off — in accordance with department policies — until after the election. Sessions, it would seem, would be far more sympathetic to the New York agents’ side of things; he said on CNN outright that an investigation was warranted.

“The evidence indicates to me that this should be fully investigated. I cannot say that Mr. Comey has not completed a full investigation but it seems like he has not,” Sessions said. “And I think there is a cloud over this, and just because he might conclude there is not a chargeable offense does not indicate that there is no wrongdoing.”

Read more:

Donald Trump could actually take steps to try to jail Hillary Clinton
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/11/09/donald-trump-could-actually-take-steps-to-try-to-jail-hillary-clinton/?utm_term=.c3bd40c6e998

‘He’s got to get control of the ship again’: How tensions at the FBI will persist after the election

Cabinet Making with Donald

 
November 18, 2016
The election of Donald Trump was never about one man. It was about the thousands of agency jobs at every level of government that would either be filled by men and women of principle -- or the second coming of Eric Holders, Loretta Lynchs, and Lois Lerners. With Trump's victory, Americans didn't just win back the White House -- they won back Washington and its hundreds of levers of power, from civil rights commissions to the IRS's office of tax exemption. And in the hotbed of U.S. rules and regulation creation, that may be the most important win of all last Tuesday.
Like every office, these agencies are only as good as their leaders. And yesterday, Donald Trump showed conservatives that he's doing everything he can to make sure those departments have the best people at the top. The first wave of key appointments hit the wire, reassuring America that the country was under new management. After the eight-year scandal-factory of the Justice Department, the president-elect is making it clear that it's a new day at DOJ with the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as attorney general. For the senator, the first to endorse Trump, the DOJ is hardly new territory. "My previous 15 years working in the Department of Justice were extraordinarily fulfilling. I love the Department, its people and its mission. I can think of no greater honor than to lead them," he said.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), whose name was also floated as a possible AG, congratulated the new administration on its pick. "Senator Jeff Sessions's nomination as attorney general is great news for all of us who revere the Constitution and the rule of law. I have been honored to work with Senator Sessions on many of our nation's most important issues over the last four years. Senator Sessions has had an extraordinary career in government and law enforcement. He has been an exemplary senator for the state of Alabama, and I am confident that he will be an exceptional United States attorney general."
FRC has worked with Senator Sessions on a number of issues and could not be happier to watch him usher in a new era at DOJ -- one that cherishes the Constitution and its protection of our freedom from government oppression. If there's one thing we know about Senator Sessions, it's that he understands the importance of all of our God-given rights, respects the law, and will be a vital part of restoring our nation to greatness.
Adding to the good news at DOJ is the announcement today that the president-elect has also tapped Congressman Mike Pompeo (R-Kans.), a great friend of FRC, to head the CIA. Pompeo, who's served as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, graduated first in his class at West Point, went to Harvard Law School, and earned the respect of a lot of people for his work in the Benghazi investigation. Of course, if conservatives respect these choices, it almost certainly guarantees that liberals will not. Almost immediately, the Left started working to undermine Pompeo -- which is no surprise given his vocal criticism of the Obama Iranian nuclear deal and other foreign policy failures.
In another high-profile move, President-elect Trump also asked Lt. General Mike Flynn (U.S. Army-Ret.) to be his national security advisor. FRC's own Lt. General, Jerry Boykin, applauded the move. "Lt. Gen. Flynn is an excellent choice for national security advisor. He is the best intelligence officer who has passed through the ranks of the Army in the last 50 years. He sees the world as it is, not as others would like it to be. He is candid in his assessments and most importantly, he is an agent of change -- just what President Trump will need."
As these great conservatives gear up for their confirmation fights, we remain encouraged. President-elect Trump is already making the most important decision: surrounding himself with solid advisors.

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Tony Perkins' Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.