US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions has resigned — ‘at the request’ of the President — clearing the way for the White House to move against investigations into Trump’s dealings with Russia.

The resignation was the culmination of a toxic relationship that frayed just weeks into the Attorney-General’s tumultuous tenure. After misleading the US Senate over his personal contacts with the Russian ambassador, Sessions unexpected recused (sidelined) himself from any involvement in FBI investigations into allegations of Moscow’s collusion with Trump’s 2016 election campaign team.

Trump blamed the decision for opening the door to the appointment of Special Counsel Rober Mueller, who took over the Russia investigation and began examining whether Trump’s hectoring of Sessions was part of a broader effort to obstruct justice and stymie the probe.

“At your request, I am submitting my resignation,” Sessions wrote in his resignation letter — effective immediately.

But he took the opportunity to remind the President he was not above the law.

“Since the day I was honoured to be sworn in as Attorney-General of the United States, I came to work at the Department of Justice every day determined to do my duty and serve my country. I have done so to the best of my ability, working to support the fundamental legal processes that are the foundation of justice.

“Most importantly, in my time as Attorney-General we have restored and upheld the rule of law — a glorious tradition that each of us has a responsibility to safeguard. We have operated with integrity and have lawfully and aggressively advance the policy agenda of this administration.”

COLLUSION PROBE CHALLENGED
President Trump immediately confirmed that Matthew G. Whitaker, Chief of Staff to Attorney-General Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice, will become the new Acting Attorney-General of the United States.

Trump added, “We thank Attorney-General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well! A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date.”

The appointment of Whitaker means Deputy AG Rosenstein — also a target of Trump’s personal attacks — will no longer oversee the Mueller investigation. Whitaker is on the record as calling the investigation a ‘witch hunt’.

Whitaker wrote in a CNN opinion piece last year that “Mueller has come up to a red line in the Russia 2016 election-meddling investigation that he is dangerously close to crossing”.

Whitaker has also spoken of how an Attorney-General could ‘choke’ the Mueller probe.

“So I could see a scenario where Jeff Sessions is replaced with a recess appointment and that Attorney-General doesn’t fire Bob Mueller, but he just reduces his budget to so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt,” he said during an interview with CNN in July 2017.

Senate minority leader and Democrat Chuck Schumer says the timing of Jeff Sessions’ resignation is “very suspect” and says a new Attorney-General must not interfere with the investigation into Russian collusion.

Schumer says Whitaker should recuse himself from Russia probe, as Sessions did, because of his public lack of impartiality.

With the Democrats now holding the majority in the House of Representatives, they are in a position to launch a series of new probes into Trump’s dealings. House committees have the power to probe the President’s tax returns, business conflicts of interest and links to foreign powers.

During an overnight press conference, Trump said he would set the White House on a “warlike posture” if any new investigations were initiated.

“They can play that (investigation) game, but we can play it better,” Trump said. “All you’re going to do is end up in back and forth and back and forth, and two years is going to go up and we won’t have done a thing.”

But chief Democrat Nancy Pelosi says “it is impossible to read Attorney General Sessions’ firing as anything other than another blatant attempt by Trump to undermine and end Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation.”

RUSSIAN ROULETTE
Sessions was an early supporter of Trump’s campaign for the presidency, but was widely seen as ‘old guard’ Republican. His appointment as Attorney-General was regarded as an attempt to balance their concerns against Trump’s ‘new’ way. Sessions’ crime- fighting agenda and priorities — particularly his hawkish immigration enforcement policies — also largely mirrored the president’s own.

But, during confirmation hearings with the US Senate for his new role, Sessions stated — under oath — that he had not had any contact with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign. He also stated he was unaware of any contact between Trump campaign members and Moscow representatives.

However, it was later revealed Sessions had, in fact, met twice with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. In the ensuing scandal, Sessions recused himself from any investigations involving the Russians.

The decision infuriated Trump, who repeatedly lamented that he would have never selected Sessions if he had known the Attorney-General would recuse. The recusal left the investigation in the hands of Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel two months later after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey.

The deteriorating relationship became a soap opera stalemate for the administration. Trump belittled Sessions but, perhaps following the advice of aides, held off on firing him. The Attorney-General, for his part, proved determined to remain in the position until dismissed. A logjam broke when Republican senators who had publicly backed Sessions began signalling a willingness to consider a new Attorney-General.

WHITE HOUSE REVOLVING DOOR
2017
SALLY YATES, January 30: Trump fires the acting attorney-general largely due to her opposition to his immigration policies.

MICHAEL FLYNN, February 13: The White House national security advisor resigns after only 23 days in office. He admits to “inadvertently” giving “incomplete information” about his communication with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

KATIE WALSH, March 30: Chief of staff Reince Priebus identifies the White House staffer as the source of a leak and she is sacked.

JAMES COMEY, May 9: Trump sacks the FBI chief, later saying that he planned for months to fire the “showboat” director. Congressional Democrats accuse the White House of trying to impede FBI investigations of Russian election meddling and connections to Trump’s campaign.

MIKE DUBKE, May 30: The White House communications director resigns after only three months.

WALTER SHAUB, July 6: The head of the Office of Government Ethics resigns after months of clashes with the White House over issues like Trump’s refusal to fully divest his businesses and the administration’s delay in disclosing ethics waivers for appointees.

MARK CORALLO, July 20: The spokesman of the legal team representing Trump in connection with allegations of collusion with Russia in the US election steps down, as does another attorney, Mark Kasowitz.

SEAN SPICER, July 21: The White House spokesman steps down as Trump moves to appoint Anthony Scaramucci as communications director.

MICHAEL SHORT, July 25: The deputy White House spokesman also resigns.

REINCE PRIEBUS, July 28: The White House chief of staff leaves. Priebus denies that the president asked him to step down and says “I’m always going to be a Trump fan.”

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, July 31: The former Wall Street banker also known as “the Mooch” only lasts ten days as communications director. He is pushed out after a profanity-laced tirade in a phone call with a New Yorker reporter in which Scaramucci reportedly accused Priebus of being a “paranoid schizophrenic” and derided then-chief strategist Stephen Bannon.

STEPHEN BANNON, August 18: Bannon falls victim to White House infighting and is either fired or resigns, according to differing accounts. In an interview with The American Prospect, Bannon slams officials at the Departments of Defence and State and appears to undermine Trump’s strategy regarding the ballistic missile threat posed by North Korea.

TOM PRICE, September 29: The US Health and Human Services Secretary resigns amid a furore over his use of private charter flights for government business.

2018
ROB PORTER, February 7: The staff secretary resigns under a cloud of suspicion stemming from allegations of domestic violence by two ex-wives and the difficulties the allegations caused in getting the high level security clearance necessary to do his job. Porter’s position put him in charge of Trump’s correspondence and schedule, including classified material.

DAVID SORENSEN, February 9: Speech writer Sorensen resigns two days after Porter amid domestic abuse allegations.

HOPE HICKS, February 28: The White House communications director announces her resignation the day after testifying before a House committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. In her testimony Hicks, 29, acknowledges telling “white lies” in her job but insists that she never lied about substantive matters. Hicks was reportedly dating Porter.

GARY COHN, March 6: Cohn, chief economic adviser to Trump and director of the National Economic Council, resigns over his disagreement with Trump’s decision to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

JOHN MCENTEE, March 12: Trump’s personal assistant is escorted from the White House amid allegations he is being investigated for serious financial crimes. However, McEntee, who had been with Trump since his election campaign, is immediately hired by his re-election campaign.

REX TILLERSON, March 13: Trump fires his secretary of state after months of friction. The president says their foreign policy views too often diverge - Tillerson was frequently portrayed as not hawkish enough - and that there is a “chemistry” problem.

HR MCMASTER, March 22: After months of speculation, Trump announces that he will replace his national security advisor, with whom he had reportedly clashed repeatedly, with John Bolton, the hawkish former US ambassador to the UN.

DAVID SHULKIN, March 28: Trump dismisses his secretary of veterans affairs, David Shulkin, in a move that had been expected for weeks amid a shakeup of personnel on Trump’s team. Trump announced his intention to replace Shulkin with White House doctor Ronny L Jackson.

SCOTT PRUITT, July 5: The head of the Environmental Protection Agency resigns after a string of ethics scandals, which included, among many others, alleged abuses taxpayer funds.

JEFF SESSIONS, November 7: The attorney general resigns upon Trump’s request. His service in the administration had been contentious due to his decision to recuse himself from overseeing the Justice Department probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.