Jeff Sessions's Recusal and Its Long Political Shadow

Showing 6 Jeff Sessions videos from Charlie Kirk's video collection.

Jeff Sessions appears here almost entirely through the consequences of one decision: recusing himself from overseeing the Russia investigation just weeks into serving as Trump's first attorney general. Charlie Kirk argued repeatedly that the recusal, which Sessions took due to his own past contact with Russian officials during the campaign, needlessly left Trump without an attorney general willing to shut down what Kirk and allied commentators describe as a manufactured investigation, opening the door for Robert Mueller's appointment as special counsel just months later. Author Lee Smith's account traces the same recusal as a pivotal moment enabling what he calls a broader effort by Obama-era intelligence officials to undermine Trump's presidency. Earlier in his career, as a U.S. Senator from Alabama, Sessions had been one of the most effective Republican voices blocking comprehensive immigration reform, mentoring a young staffer named Stephen Miller who later became one of the architects of Trump's own immigration enforcement policy. A separate account credited Sessions, during his time as attorney general, with telling police departments the federal government would stop treating routine law enforcement as inherently suspect.