Page 7 - Acting Position News Today

Strategy before. >> how do the career employees feel about this? >> they have known if this did not go to rod rosenstein after the firing of sessions, if he was not put in that acting position, that would spell a number of problems for the mueller investigation and really sour the justice department especially when they see that their boss, the president, is making that kind of decision. it would have the appearance of an ethics conflict. its on whittaker himself to go to those ethics consultant...

Close attention to this and well need more reporting on what has he been doing behind the scenes preparing for this very day. its also such remarkable timing. the president is at such a precarious moment when he hasnt even submitted his questions on the question of collusion. weve been waiting to see when he will do that, what he will say. for him to make this move now is quite telling. >> you know mueller, you know how he operates and how he thinks. hes watching this oh, so closely. >> forget a...

Well, that he didnt want this at this time, it would be hard to get somebody confirmed in this kind of environment to take that place. as we know, the number three right now is in an acting position. so you would have to fall way down the totem pole to the solicitor general. you would really have a justice department weakened at the knees if he decided to fire these people overnight. >> well, the presidents son -- speaking of him, donald trump jr., is already fanning the flames today after this ...

Kind of environment the take that place. as we know, the number three right now is in an acting position. so you would have to fall way down the totem pole to the solicitor general. you would really have a justice department weakened at the knees if he decided to fire these people overnight. >> well, the presidents son speaking of him, donald trump jr., is already fanning the flames today after this report came out, tweeting, shocked, absolutely shocked! who are we kidding at this point? no one ...

Acting position, shouldnt go forward with any policy decisions until we get a full sense of corruption within the agency. hes part of that problem right now until he steps out and says that hes not going to really carry out all the problems and scandals that we saw with administrator pruitt. >> lock lan im amazed that the white house sort of gets through the day, given what ive heard about, how it operates, and the processes thats not in place to make the place function smoothly. >> im not sure ...

Position where he would have to consider resigning. >> you know, i think sessions is in a unique spot. that is that he probably doesnt want the weight of this investigation back somehow on him. hes recused from it. but he would have to have somebody come up through the ranks in a line of succession to acting -- to fill in rosensteins slot as an acting position. and often they talk about bringing in another deputy attorney general. sessions is probably backing away. i dont know if it was meant as...

Trump interview and a deadline perhaps looming with rosensteins departure. hes got to write that report. press send, get it to rosenstein and he gets it to congress for possibly impeachment or send it to court. who will replace rosenstein and what would they do with such a report? would they just put it in their top drawer and close the door. >> let me bring in on that point. if rosenstein does go, if the president fires him, do we have a sense who is next? >> thats a good question. technically ...

Mccabe can. hes in an acting position. its really incumbent on sessions and rosenstein to do that. they have to remember, they swore an oath not to the president, but to the constitution. theyre there to serve the american public, not to serve donald trump. theyre supposed to protect their institutions from independence. you know, when he fired jim comey, that was a red line that he crossed. and they failed that test. they were supposed to stand up for the departments independence then and push ...

Tonight by resigning, which under normal terms would be the thing you would expect, if they end up not resigning, and thereby sort of standing by the presidents comments here, is there anybody else in this chain of command, is there anybody else in government who could sort of speak truth to power the way you were describing it, in terms of standing up for the independence of the justice department? >> bob mueller can, andrew mccabe can. hes in an acting position. its really incumbent on session...

Sean spicer was asked about it at the briefing. he didnt know why it was still there. guess what happened? shortly thereafter, it was removed from the campaign website. you can see it right there before and after. >> and its not like this is the first time its been noted. democrats have been saying this, we have been reporting it for, you know, however many days that the trump administration has been as such, has been in office. so it is noteworthy that it took the judges who are going to rule o...