Pleeease, Jeff?

Oh man. Comey actually asked (or told) Sessions not to leave him alone with Trump…and Sessions said “I caaaaaaan’t, I don’t know howwwwww.”

The day after President Trump asked James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, to end an investigation into his former national security adviser, Mr. Comey confronted Attorney General Jeff Sessions and said he did not want to be left alone again with the president, according to current and former law enforcement officials.

Mr. Comey believed Mr. Sessions should protect the F.B.I. from White House influence, the officials said, and pulled him aside after a meeting in February to tell him that private interactions between the F.B.I. director and the president were inappropriate. But Mr. Sessions could not guarantee that the president would not try to talk to Mr. Comey alone again, the officials said.

“He’s big, and he yells, and Steve Bannon might throw a desk at me.”

Comey didn’t tell Sessions about the “let the guy off, willya?” though. Gee I wonder why.

Mr. Comey’s unwillingness to be alone with the president reflected how deeply Mr. Comey distrusted Mr. Trump, who Mr. Comey believed was trying to undermine the F.B.I.’s independence as it conducted a highly sensitive investigation into links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia, the officials said. By comparison, Mr. Comey met alone at least twice with President Obama.

Remember when we had a president who wasn’t a flagrant crook and self-dealer? That was nice.

The Justice Department typically walls off the White House from criminal investigations to avoid even the appearance of political meddling in law enforcement. But Mr. Trump has repeatedly interjected himself in law enforcement matters, and never more dramatically than in his private meetings with Mr. Comey.

“You have the president of the United States talking to the director of the F.B.I., not just about any criminal investigation, but one involving his presidential campaign,” said Matthew S. Axelrod, who served in senior Justice Department roles during the Obama administration and is now a partner at the law firm Linklaters. “That is such a sharp departure from all the past traditions and rules of the road.”

Well, you know, that’s what Trump said – he was going to be all mavericky up in there.

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