Washington Times contributor Jed Babbin joins Big John & Ramblin’ Ray to talk about Rod Rosenstein allegedly recording President Trump, and how Jeff Sessions needs to investigate him. Babbin also debates whether and when Mitch McConnell should push through the vote on Brett Kavanaugh.
Tag Archives: jeff sessions
Federal consent decree of Chicago Police in doubt after Sessions Memo
(CHICAGO) It is looking less likely that Chicago Police will be subject to a federal consent decree. The Washington Post broke the story that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered Justice Department officials to review reform agreements with troubled police forces nationwide.
That also throws into question whether the Sessions Justice Department will enter into new consent decrees with cities such as Chicago, which was the subject of a wide-ranging Justice Department civil rights probe in the last year of the Obama administration, spurred by the police shooting of LaQuan McDonald in 2015.
Sessions wrote a two-page memo that says agreements reached previously between the Obama Justice Department ‘s civil rights division and local police departments will be subject to review by his two top deputies, throwing into question whether all of the agreements will stay in place.
In January, before President Trump was inaugurated, President Obama’s Attorney General Loretta Lynch traveled to Chicago to issue a scathing report accusing Chicago Police of violating the civil rights of African-Americans and other minorities.
Trump and Jeff Sessions have said that efforts such as consent decrees to crack down on bad cops hurt police morale.
Bill Cameron reports:
Read the entire Washington Post story here:
Chicago to establish ID undocumented immigrants can obtain
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pushing the establishment of a municipal identification program that will allow people living in the U.S. illegally access to city services.
A proposed ordinance introduced Wednesday to Chicago’s City Council would allow the city clerk to review documents provided by applicants seeking an ID. However, the clerk’s office would be barred from collecting or keeping that information.
The measure is aimed at easing the fears of immigrants that President Donald Trump’s administration could use the information to try to track down and deport them.
Emanuel’s move comes as U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions threatens to withhold federal money from cities that don’t cooperate with federal immigration agents.
Emanuel on Wednesday downplayed the move as a response to the Trump administration’s illegal immigration crackdown. He says the ID will represent Chicago’s values as a welcoming city.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Juan Williams from the Hill talks about the battle over Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing
Juan Williams from the Hill joins the show to talk about the Mitch McConnell-Elizabeth Warren battle in the Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing.
Former AG Sally Yates was anti-immigration ban
[van id=”politics/2017/01/30/trump-travel-ban-acting-atty-general-perez-tsr-sot.cnn”]
Attorney General Sally Yates had instructed the Justice Department not to defend President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration and refugees. CNN’s Evan Perez reports.
By Evan Perez and Jeremy Diamond, CNN
President Donald Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates Monday night for “refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States,” the White House said.
“(Yates) has betrayed the Department of Justice,” the White House statement said.
Dana Boente, US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, the White House said, and was sworn in at 9 p.m. ET, per an administration official. A few hours later, Boente issued a statement rescinding Yates’ order, instructing DOJ lawyers to “defend the lawful orders of our President.”
Trump didn’t call Yates to dismiss her, she was informed by hand-delivered letter, according to a different administration official.
The dramatic move came soon after CNN reported Yates told Justice Department lawyers not to make legal arguments defending Trump’s executive order on immigration and refugees.
The move set up a clash between the White House and Yates, who was appointed by President Barack Obama and was set to serve until Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, if confirmed.
“My responsibility is to ensure that the position of the Department of Justice is not only legally defensible, but is informed by our best view of what the law is after consideration of all the facts,” she said in a letter. “In addition, I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution’s solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right.”
Trump’s executive order, signed Friday, bars citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for the next 90 days, suspends the admission of all refugees for 120 days and indefinitely suspends the Syrian refugee program. Yates’ decision came amid a flood of protests against the executive order nationwide and after four federal judges ruled against Trump’s order, staying its impact on people who were detained at US airports over the weekend.
Trump tweeted his response shortly after the news broke, saying Democrats have stymied Sessions’ confirmation, enabling Yates.
“The Democrats are delaying my cabinet picks for purely political reasons. They have nothing going but to obstruct. Now have an Obama A.G.,” he said.
“At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful,” Yates wrote.
Yates’ decision was always likely to be extremely short-lived as Sessions is scheduled for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
White House policy director Stephen Miller, who helped craft the executive order, called Yates’ decision “a further demonstration of how politicized our legal system has become.”
“It’s sad that our politics have become so politicized, that you have people refusing to enforce our laws,” Miller said Monday night on MSNBC.
Miller also defended the executive order’s legality, insisting that the Immigration and Nationality Act gives the President “the ability to exclude any class of would-be visitors or immigrants to our country based on our national security interests.”
But the decision didn’t face the same criticism from Rep. Pete Sessions, a top House Republican, who said Yates’ decision was likely similar “to an evaluation that we made.”
“And that was it did not appear to be specific in nature,” Sessions said referring to the executive order. “So it may be a matter of clarity it may be a matter of illegality to him, it may be a matter of several things. It did not look as complete and succinct as what I think I would’ve wanted.”
Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, praised Yates for standing up “on principle.”
“In all my years as a member of Congress, which now is 21, I’ve met so many very principled people who truly believe in the Constitution and doing what is right,” Cumming said. “There comes a time when people, no matter who may be their boss, they stand upon their principles, so at the end of the day they can look them selves in the mirror and say ‘I synchronized my conduct with my conscience.’ And Yates is such a person.”
Currently, there are cases filed in at least five states including Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, Washington and California that are challenging Trump’s order.
The decision effectively grounds the executive order for the next few days until Sessions is sworn in.
“This will be moot. Then we will very much see the Trump Justice Department led by Jeff Sessions defend this executive order pretty vigorously. And then it will be up to the courts,” said Steve Vladeck, a CNN contributor and law professor at the University of Texas School of Law.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told CNN’s Erin Burnett Monday the Justice Department decision reflects poorly on the Trump administration.
“When you do something as important as this, it can’t be a Twitter-type of activity,” Schumer said. “This has to be thoroughly vetted … and it’s a very bad omen for this presidency.”
Activists who have led the fight against Trump’s immigration ban lauded Yates’ action Monday night.
“We took to the courtroom, people took to the streets and now principled federal officials are drawing a hardline on this shameful and unconstitutional act by President Trump. This is what we rely on the Department of Justice for, to uphold the rule of law no matter how the political wind is blowing,” said Karen Tumlin, the National Immigration Law Center’s legal director.
Lee Gelernt, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who argued against the immigration ban in court in New York, praised Yates’ decision and called on the next attorney general to “continue with that policy.”
“This ban will do irreparable damage to real people and to American values,” he said.
The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2017 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
Schumer opposes Sessions for AG
(CNN) Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Thursday that he will vote against Sen. Jeff Sessions’ nomination for attorney general.
“After reviewing his record and giving careful consideration to his answers during the hearing, I am not confident in Senator Sessions’ ability to be a defender of the rights of all Americans, or to serve as an independent check on the incoming administration,” the New York Democrat said in a statement.
“I am also deeply concerned by his views on immigration, which I saw firsthand during the push for comprehensive immigration reform. For those reasons, I will oppose his nomination to serve as the next attorney general.”
The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2017 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
