AG Jeff Sessions has resigned at President Trumps request, announced via twitter.

Viskod

Trump just indirectly fired Jeff Session over twitter.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1060256619383193601

We are pleased to announce that Matthew G. Whitaker, Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice, will become our new Acting Attorney General of the United States. He will serve our Country well....

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1060256623439110146

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

Couscous

Was Sessions told about this before hand?

Viskod

Going by Trumps record, probably not.

rahkeesh2000

Regular as clockwork.

Hope Mueller can put a bow on what he's been doing. He'll be out before the new congress is in.

So It Goes

Couscous wrote: »

Was Sessions told about this before hand?

Yes he submitted a letter

Polaritie

So, did Trump actually file the proper paperwork this time?

Couscous

Trump requested the resignation so it was a firing.

CNN reporter with the resignation letter:

https://twitter.com/eorden/status/1060257377780408321

Undead Scottsman

Sessions had know this was coming for awhile. Still surprised they wasted no time.

Guve us a few days to relax, you asshole.

PantsB

If that letter were true, wouldn't that mean that violent crime would need to be near its apex under Trump?

mxmarks

Is this Trump trying to get people to stop talking about the midterms ASAP?

mittens

"Wednesday Afternoon Massacre" just doesn't have the same ring to it that Nixon's massacre did.

Hump Day AG Bump Day?

Tach

Fuck. This is seriously not good. Expected, but still not good.

Over/under on when Mueller is fired?

Polaritie

So, how much will Mueller have unsealed Friday now you think?

PantsB

mxmarks wrote: »

Is this Trump trying to get people to stop talking about the midterms ASAP?

This is Trump trying to kill the Mueller investigation before he releases the results post-election

Cog

This seems generally ominous, especially because it's, oh I don't know, the day after the goddamn election.

Also Jr. is expecting to be indicted soon, apparently.

But this is all coincidence, I'm sure.

Couscous

I figured Trump would at least wait a few days before getting rid of Sessions.

HamHamJ

So, does this mean we are going for firing Mueller before the new congress?

Viskod

Viskod was warned for this.

Well, no more indictments for Mueller and his reports will never be public. Roger Stone and Don Jr have been saved.

moniker

Good thing the House can hire Mueller after January 3rd.

Tomanta

I wanted a single day where I could relax. Sigh.

DarkPrimus

HamHamJ wrote: »

So, does this mean we are going for firing Mueller before the new congress?

IIRC even if you move to shut the investigation down they get like six months or something to wrap things up, right?

Dehumanized

https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1060258561383645186

Lawrence Tribe (a Harvard Law professor) says that the new interim AG will take oversight of the muller investigation from rosenstein

presumably to kill it

Winky

This is technically not a break-glass moment for the Mueller/Rosenstein firing protests, but it's definitely a stand-ready one.

I guess we knew this was coming for a long time, still feels like a surprise.

Viskod

moniker wrote: »

Good thing the House can hire Mueller after January 3rd.

You are assuming he is fired and not just sabotaged.

PantsB

moniker wrote: »

Good thing the House can hire Mueller after January 3rd.

I don't think the House has the power to bring indictments (except contempt of Congress I guess)

Undead Scottsman

DarkPrimus wrote: »

HamHamJ wrote: »

So, does this mean we are going for firing Mueller before the new congress?

IIRC even if you move to shut the investigation down they get like six months or something to wrap things up, right?

30 days.

If you are going with the norms.

OneAngryPossum

DarkPrimus wrote: »

HamHamJ wrote: »

So, does this mean we are going for firing Mueller before the new congress?

IIRC even if you move to shut the investigation down they get like six months or something to wrap things up, right?

People have been saying 30 days, but I’ve personally never seen actual statutory evidence for that.

moniker

PantsB wrote: »

moniker wrote: »

Good thing the House can hire Mueller after January 3rd.

I don't think the House has the power to bring indictments (except contempt of Congress I guess)

According to DOJ neither does DOJ.

Cog

Tach wrote: »

Fuck. This is seriously not good. Expected, but still not good.

Over/under on when Mueller is fired?

About 15 minutes after Rosenstein, give or take however long it takes to identify a willing toady.

Desktop Hippie

Ah. An impending constitutional crisis in the United States. Lovely.

I know there were big protests planned if Sessions was fired, but what happens now that he (probably) bowed out himself instead?

Dehumanized

to give some context to the interim AG's positions, have a gander at this CNN op-ed he wrote last year

Mueller's investigation of Trump is going too far by Matthew Whitaker, who now is ostensibly Muller's boss

Styrofoam Sammich

Theres going to be a lot of fuckery over the next couple weeks during the lame duck.

SyphonBlue

Dehumanized wrote: »

https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1060258561383645186

Lawrence Tribe (a Harvard Law professor) says that the new interim AG will take oversight of the muller investigation from rosenstein

presumably to kill it

So Mueller will probably be fired today

cool

Ilpala

Desktop Hippie wrote: »

Ah. An impending constitutional crisis in the United States. Lovely.

I know there were big protests planned if Sessions was fired, but what happens now that he (probably) bowed out himself instead?

I mean, it was at Trump's request, so he didn't /really/

Polaritie

Desktop Hippie wrote: »

Ah. An impending constitutional crisis in the United States. Lovely.

I know there were big protests planned if Sessions was fired, but what happens now that he (probably) bowed out himself instead?

No, that's him being fired. It just means someone near Trump knows how the forced resignation game works.

Undead Scottsman

Desktop Hippie wrote: »

Ah. An impending constitutional crisis in the United States. Lovely.

I know there were big protests planned if Sessions was fired, but what happens now that he (probably) bowed out himself instead?

Protests are for Mueller getting fired.

Since Whitaker isn't recused, he can end the Mueller investigation right away, right?

Unknown

This content has been removed.

Viskod

OneAngryPossum wrote: »

DarkPrimus wrote: »

HamHamJ wrote: »

So, does this mean we are going for firing Mueller before the new congress?

IIRC even if you move to shut the investigation down they get like six months or something to wrap things up, right?

People have been saying 30 days, but I’ve personally never seen actual statutory evidence for that.

Again, this is if his investigation is going to be ended or he is going to be fired. This is not what will happen. Whittaker will just deny any further indictments, and bury Muellers reports.

Winky

Desktop Hippie wrote: »

Ah. An impending constitutional crisis in the United States. Lovely.

I know there were big protests planned if Sessions was fired, but what happens now that he (probably) bowed out himself instead?

Sessions firing wasn't one of the protest moments, it stops short at Rosenstein.

And either way, a forced resignation is the equivalent of a firing for our puposes.

MuddBudd

And here we are, the constitutional crisis.

So say Mueller gets fired during the lame duck. Can the House re-open things in Jan?

Undead Scottsman

Viskod wrote: »

OneAngryPossum wrote: »

DarkPrimus wrote: »

HamHamJ wrote: »

So, does this mean we are going for firing Mueller before the new congress?

IIRC even if you move to shut the investigation down they get like six months or something to wrap things up, right?

People have been saying 30 days, but I’ve personally never seen actual statutory evidence for that.

Again, this is if his investigation is going to be ended or he is going to be fired. This is not what will happen. Whittaker will just deny any further indictments, and bury Muellers reports.

House can request the reports though.