McCarthy argues Comey firing, obstruction claims avoidable if attorney general wasn’t ‘steamrolled’
By Kathryn Blackhurst; LifeZette:
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Andrew McCarthy said it was “totally unnecessary” for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the Russia probe, during an interview Monday on “The Laura Ingraham Show.”
McCarthy, a contributing editor for National Review, argued President Donald Trump and his administration “wouldn’t have the mess that we have now” if Sessions had refused to cave into Democrats’ demands and opted to stick with the investigation into 2016 election meddling. If Sessions hadn’t bowed out, McCarthy said, Trump may have had no reason to fire former FBI Director James Comey and find himself embroiled in talk of impeachment for obstruction of justice.
“It was totally unnecessary, if you look at the regulation that [Sessions] says that he relied on, because that regulation refers to criminal investigations. There was no criminal investigation here. It’s a counterintelligence investigation, just an information-gathering investigation,” McCarthy noted.
The consequences of Sessions recusal were sweeping and may have a lasting impact on the Trump presidency, McCarthy said.
“The … most damaging thing that happen[ed] here was Comey’s testimony on March 20, which was totally inappropriate in about 15 ways,” McCarthy said. “But I don’t think Sessions, if he hadn’t been recused, would ever let Comey give that testimony, which publicly said not only that there was an investigation of Russian meddling but that they were looking specifically at Trump campaign collusion with Russia, and that they were also considering or would consider whether criminal charges were appropriate.”
“I don’t think Sessions would have ever let that happen,” McCarthy added. “I think if it hadn’t happened, Trump probably would not have had reason to fire Comey and probably we wouldn’t have the mess that we have now.”
McCarthy added, “Here we’ve had an attorney general who let himself basically get steamrolled by career people to recuse himself, to be above reproach, and I think in a really hyper and unnecessary way. This goes to show there’s no point in settling with Washington because you’re going to be reproached anyway.”
The former assistant U.S. attorney bemoaned the “painful” interviews that Trump attorney Jay Sekulow gave on the Sunday morning shows, in which he downplayed a tweet from Trump in which the president said “I am under investigation.” Claiming Trump was merely responding to an anonymously sourced Washington Post article, Sekulow insisted the president was not, in fact, under investigation.
“Look at this insane, stupid discussion we’ve had the whole weekend about whether he’s under investigation, which is, like, irrelevant, whether he is or not,” McCarthy said of Trump. “But we’ve argued it because he tweeted something about it, so that’s been what the whole weekend was about.”
McCarthy also expressed his disappointment with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and his appointment of a special counsel to investigate Trump following the abrupt Comey firing.
“[Rosenstein’s] a guy I think who has very carefully cultivated relations with both sides of the aisle,” McCarthy said. “It’s like a typical Washington type, right? And he was not going to be comfortable being the guy who was put out there” on the hot seat.
Noting that it is essential that Trump continue appointing officials to fill administration posts still occupied by holdovers from former President Barack Obama’s administration, McCarthy said that Trump would have avoided so many problems for himself if he had immediately stocked the government with loyalists.
“So basically it’s a Justice Department that’s being run mainly by people who’ve been stuffed in there by Obama in the last eight years,” McCarthy said, noting that this led to the “epic moment in all of this” mess, when Comey testified in March prior to his firing. During his testimony, Comey said that the Justice Department had authorized his testimony.
“So to believe that, what you have to believe is that the Trump Justice Department authorized the FBI to tell the public gratuitously that the president was under investigation,” McCarthy said. “You have to have your people in that you can trust to push your agenda. If you don’t, you have what Trump has now, which is basically he’s almost — it seems like he is at war with his own executive branch at times.”
There is still a kernel of hope for the president, McCarthy argued. As talk of impeachment and obstruction of justice continues to permeate the media, McCarthy said that Trump can’t be investigated for obstruction of justice for merely firing Comey unless it qualifies as “corrupt” under the statute.
“The ‘corruption’ as a matter of law means you have to understand that what you’re doing is a violation of law. So if it’s legal, it can’t be corrupt,” McCarthy argued.
To read related content visit LifeZette.
GOP Paints Georgia Special as Referendum on ‘Resistance’
Agenda in Doubt, Pressure Builds for Senate to Cancel Recess
