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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018
Sessions out as AG; Russia probe in question
By ERIC TUCKER and
MICHAEL BALSAMO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Attorney Gen-
eral Jeff Sessions was pushed out after
enduring more than a year of blister-
ing and personal attacks from Presi-
dent Donald Trump, who inserted in
his place a Republican Party loyalist
with authority to oversee the remain-
der of the special counsel’s Russia
investigation.
The move Wednesday has poten-
tially ominous implications for special
counsel Robert Mueller’s probe given
that the new acting attorney general,
Matthew Whitaker, until now Sessions’
chief of staff, has questioned the inqui-
ry’s scope and spoke publicly before
joining the Justice Department about
ways an attorney general could theoret-
ically stymie the investigation.
Congressional Democrats, con-
cerned about protecting Mueller, called
on Whitaker to recuse himself from
overseeing the investigation in its final
but potentially explosive stages. That
duty has belonged to Deputy Attor-
ney General Rod Rosenstein, who
appointed Mueller and closely moni-
tors his work.
“Donald Trump must be terrified
about what Robert Mueller’s investi-
gation has uncovered,” said Sen. Ron
Wyden, D-Oregon.
“Trump is desperately trying to pro-
tect himself and his cronies from justice
by installing a political hack as acting
attorney general,” Wyden added. “Mat-
thew Whitaker has openly called for
restrictions on Mueller’s investigation
and described a game plan to obstruct
AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
Attorney General Jeff Sessions left at Trump’s request, according to
his resignation letter.
Mueller from doing his job and get-
ting to the bottom of Russia’s interfer-
ence in our democracy. Given these
comments, at a minimum, he should
recuse himself from the special coun-
sel’s investigation.
“Whitaker’s appointment raises
blaring alarms about the acceleration of
obstruction of justice and a fundamen-
tal attack on the rule of law in our coun-
try. Congress must act right now to pro-
tect the special counsel’s investigation.”
The resignation, in a one-page letter
to Trump, came one day after Republi-
cans lost control of the House and was
the first of several expected post-mid-
terms Cabinet and White House depar-
tures. Though Sessions was an early
and prominent campaign backer of
Trump, his departure letter lacked effu-
sive praise for the president and made
clear the resignation came “at your
request.”
“Since the day I was honored to
be sworn in as attorney general of the
United States, I came to work at the
Department of Justice every day deter-
mined to do my duty and serve my
country,” Sessions wrote.
The departure was the culmination
of a toxic relationship that frayed just
weeks into Sessions’ tenure, when he
stepped aside from the Russia investi-
gation because of his campaign advo-
cacy and following the revelation that
he had met twice in 2016 with the Rus-
sian ambassador to the U.S.
Trump blamed the recusal for the
appointment of Mueller, who took over
the Russia investigation two months
later and began examining whether hush money payments before the 2016
Trump’s hectoring of Sessions was part election to two women who said they
of a broader effort to obstruct the probe. had sex with Trump.
Trump had repeatedly been talked
The investigation has produced
32 criminal charges and guilty pleas out of firing Sessions until after the
from four former Trump aides. But the midterms, but he told confidants in
work is not done, and critical decisions recent weeks that he wanted Ses-
await that could shape the remainder of sions out as soon as possible after the
elections.
Trump’s presidency.
The president
A
Kremlin
deflected ques-
spokesman, Dmi-
try Peskov, today
tions about Ses-
sions’ expected
called
Muel-
ler’s investiga-
departure at a
tion a “headache”
White
House
for U.S. author-
news conference
ities but said it
Wednesday. He
“has nothing to do
did not mention
with us,” and he
that White House
declined to com-
chief of staff John
ment on Sessions’
Kelly had called
Sessions before-
departure.
hand to ask for his
M u e l l e r ’s
resignation. The
grand jury has
undated letter was
heard testimony
then sent to the
for months about
White House.
Trump confidant
The
Jus-
Roger Stone and
tice Department
what
advance
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon
did not directly
knowledge
he
answer whether
may have had
Whitaker would
about
Russian
hacking of Democratic emails. Muel- assume control of Mueller’s investiga-
ler’s team also has been pressing for an tion, with spokeswoman Sarah Isgur
interview with Trump. And the depart- Flores saying he would be “in charge
ment is expected to receive a confiden- of all matters under the purview of the
tial report of Mueller’s findings, though Department of Justice.”
it’s unclear how much will be public.
Rosenstein remains at the depart-
Separately, Justice Department ment and could still be involved in
prosecutors in New York secured a oversight. He has previously said that
guilty plea from Trump’s former per- he saw no basis for firing Mueller.
sonal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who said Trump said Wednesday that he did not
the president directed him to arrange plan to stop the investigation.
‘DONALD
TRUMP MUST
BE TERRIFIED
ABOUT WHAT
ROBERT
MUELLER’S
INVESTIGATION
HAS
UNCOVERED.’
WORLD IN BRIEF
Associated Press
Marine combat veteran
kills 12 in shooting at
crowded California bar
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Using a
smoke bomb and a handgun, a hooded Marine
combat veteran dressed all in black opened fire
during college night at a country music bar in
Southern California, killing 12 people and send-
ing hundreds fleeing in panic before apparently
taking his own life.
Authorities said the motive for the attack
Wednesday night is under investigation.
The killer was identified as 28-year-old Ian
David Long, a former machine gunner and dec-
orated veteran of the war in Afghanistan who
was interviewed by police at his home last
spring after an episode of agitated behavior that
they were told might be post-traumatic stress
disorder.
Screaming in fear, patrons rushed for the
exits, ducked under tables and hurled barstools
to smash second-floor windows and jump to
safety as gunfire erupted at the Borderline Bar
& Grill, a hangout popular with students from
nearby California Lutheran University.
The dead included 11 people inside the bar
and a veteran sheriff’s sergeant who was the
first officer inside the door, Ventura County
Sheriff Geoff Dean said.
It was the nation’s deadliest such attack since
17 students and teachers were killed at a Park-
land, Florida, high school nine months ago.
It also came less than two weeks after a gun-
man massacred 11 people at a synagogue in
Pittsburgh.
President Donald Trump praised police for
their “great bravery” in the California attack and
THE DAILY
ASTORIAN
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said, “God bless all of the victims and families
of the victims.” He ordered flags flown at half-
staff in honor of the victims.
Long was armed with a Glock 21, a .45-cal-
iber designed to hold 10 rounds plus one in the
chamber, according to the sheriff. But it had an
extended magazine — one capable of holding
more ammunition — that is illegal in Califor-
nia, Dean said.
erals that she should step down in the first two
years of President Barack Obama’s second
term, when Democrats also controlled the Sen-
ate and would have been likely to confirm her
successor.
She already has hired clerks for the term that
extends into 2020, indicating she has no plans
to retire.
Ginsburg leads the court’s liberal wing.
Justice Ginsburg
hospitalized after
fracturing 3 ribs in fall
White House bans
CNN reporter after
confrontation with Trump
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Supreme Court
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, fractured three
ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the
hospital, the court said today.
The court’s oldest justice fell Wednesday
evening, the court said. She called Supreme
Court police to take her to George Washington
University Hospital in Washington early today
after experiencing discomfort overnight.
In her absence, the court went ahead today
with a courtroom ceremony welcoming new
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who joined the court
last month. President Donald Trump and new
acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker
were on hand.
Ginsburg has had a series of health prob-
lems. She broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She
has had two prior bouts with cancer and had
a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in
2014. She also was hospitalized after a bad reac-
tion to medicine in 2009.
But she has never missed Supreme Court
arguments. The court won’t hear arguments
again until Nov. 26.
Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993,
Ginsburg rebuffed suggestions from some lib-
NEW YORK — The White House has sus-
pended the press pass of CNN correspon-
dent Jim Acosta after he and President Don-
ald Trump had a heated confrontation during a
news conference.
They began sparring Wednesday after Acosta
asked Trump about the caravan of migrants
heading from Latin America to the southern
U.S. border. When Acosta tried to follow up with
another question, Trump said, “That’s enough!”
and a female White House aide unsuccessfully
tried to grab the microphone from Acosta.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee
Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of
“placing his hands on a young woman just try-
ing to do her job as a White House intern,” call-
ing it “absolutely unacceptable.”
The interaction between Acosta and the
intern was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush
her arm as she reached for the microphone and
he tried to hold onto it. “Pardon me, ma’am,”
he told her.
Acosta tweeted that Sanders’ statement that
he put his hands on the aide was “a lie.”
CNN said in a statement that the White
House revoked Acosta’s press pass out of “retal-
SCHEDULE
A - Charter Astoria/ Seaside - L - Charter Long Beach
iation for his challenging questions” Wednes-
day, and the network accused Sanders of lying
about Acosta’s actions.
“(Sanders) provided fraudulent accusations
and cited an incident that never happened. This
unprecedented decision is a threat to our democ-
racy and the country deserves better,” CNN
said. “Jim Acosta has our full support.”
Journalists assigned to cover the White
House apply for passes that allow them daily
access to press areas in the West Wing. White
House staffers decide whether journalists are
eligible, though the Secret Service determines
whether their applications are approved.
8 of 10 Oregon counties
approve measure to
boost gun rights
PORTLAND — Voters in eight Oregon
counties have approved ordinances to bolster
residents’ gun rights that were championed by
militia groups.
The ordinances say that residents of those
counties now have the right to own semi-auto-
matic weapons and high-capacity magazines,
regardless of state or federal law.
They also empower sheriffs to determine if
state and federal gun laws are constitutional and
prohibit the use of county funds to enforce them.
But the ordinances are likely to be chal-
lenged in court and are seen as mostly symbolic.
The measure appeared in Baker, Colum-
bia, Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Lake, Lincoln,
Linn, Umatilla and Union counties.
It passed in all but Jackson and Lincoln
counties.
Two militia groups, the Three Percenters and
Oath Keepers, campaigned for the ordinance
across the state.
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