WEBVTT - Larry Liebert on Jeff Sessions (Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>With that, I'm out a great love Yuh. Attorney General

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<v Speaker 1>Jeff Sessions got a little bit of security today, some

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<v Speaker 1>reassurances in fact, at least for now. Larry Liebert is

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg News National Security editor. He's got more on his

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<v Speaker 1>story out at Bloomberg News that is among actually the

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<v Speaker 1>top stories on the government menu today here on the

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Larry joins U from our Bloomberg nine and nine

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<v Speaker 1>one studio in the nation's capital. Larry, nice to have

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<v Speaker 1>you here with us. So what exactly, um did Secretary

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<v Speaker 1>Attorney General Jeff Session get in terms of reassurance. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>nothing is forever to Washington and probably certainly not in

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<v Speaker 1>this administration. But a new chief of Staff, John Kelly

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<v Speaker 1>called him over the weekend and said, you're not going

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<v Speaker 1>to be fired. All those mean tweets from the President

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<v Speaker 1>about your recusing yourself for the Russia investigation, about not

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<v Speaker 1>cracking down on lease, put those aside because we want

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<v Speaker 1>you to stay. And uh. You know, it's unusual when

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<v Speaker 1>it's big news that the Attorney general isn't being fired,

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<v Speaker 1>but he's been left hanging and uh, and Kelly clearly

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<v Speaker 1>is moving to try to uh tamp down some of

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<v Speaker 1>these fires that have been set by the president. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>interesting for Sessions certainly, but I also feel like this

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<v Speaker 1>is a big story about John Kelly. Right, We're all

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<v Speaker 1>watching him very closely to see is he truly the

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<v Speaker 1>chief of staff? Does everything really go through him? Does

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<v Speaker 1>the President listen to him and his advice? Well, he's

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<v Speaker 1>moving clearly in that direction. It's called the Sessions is

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<v Speaker 1>one indication the fact that uh Scaramucci was out uh

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<v Speaker 1>profanity at all as soon as uh Kelly was in uh.

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<v Speaker 1>And there's other indications on the National Security Council staff

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<v Speaker 1>and others. There have been some changes that have long

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<v Speaker 1>been held up that suggests so far that Kelly is

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<v Speaker 1>in charge. But the question at all points is, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>he's in charge of the staff, but the President's in

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<v Speaker 1>charge of him in the White House. And will the

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<v Speaker 1>President continue to back him up? We'll see that you

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<v Speaker 1>mentioned the National Security Council, just just talk to us

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<v Speaker 1>about yesterday. We did get um uh some news to

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<v Speaker 1>about one staff member UM I think being let go. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>Ezra Cohen Watnick, who was a staffer who was brought

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<v Speaker 1>in by General Flynn, who was ousted very early on.

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<v Speaker 1>But he had his own conservative constituency including admirers and

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<v Speaker 1>the White House, reportedly Jared Kushner among them, and uh

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<v Speaker 1>and uh, there was not success. General McMaster, the head

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<v Speaker 1>of the National Security Council after Flynn, was allowed to

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<v Speaker 1>move a lot of people around, to push a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of people out, but this guy was sort of held sacrosanct.

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<v Speaker 1>And so again it was taken as a symbol that

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<v Speaker 1>Kelly is settling all these disputes that he can. We'll

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<v Speaker 1>see if they stay s all right. So to White

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<v Speaker 1>House Chief of Stuff, John Kelly in charge. So we're

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<v Speaker 1>seeing that, you know, going back to Jeff Sessions for

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<v Speaker 1>a moment. It's kind of interesting because there's been several

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<v Speaker 1>stories um Ton, Schoenberger and Bloomberg Business. We put out

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<v Speaker 1>a story at the end of June about how um

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<v Speaker 1>Jeff Sessions is actually dismantling President Obama's legal legacy. So

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<v Speaker 1>it's interesting that why while President President Trump has been

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<v Speaker 1>critical of Jeff's Sessions, although maybe backing off for the moment,

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<v Speaker 1>at the same time, the Attorney General has been going

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<v Speaker 1>about kind of in the background, doing things that the

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<v Speaker 1>president wants done. One of the ironies is the president

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<v Speaker 1>was angry that Session recused himself. Sessions recused himself from

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<v Speaker 1>all the Russia probe stuff. But in fact, it's given

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<v Speaker 1>him lots more time to concentrate on the hard h

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<v Speaker 1>conservative agenda that he would bring to the Justice Department,

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<v Speaker 1>uh in any case, and that is in tune with

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<v Speaker 1>the president. So H he's he's on the case. He's

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<v Speaker 1>doing it with more assurance now. In fact, tomorrow he's

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<v Speaker 1>holding a press conference he'd already planned to about crackdown

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<v Speaker 1>on leaks from the intelligence agencies. And that's another of

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<v Speaker 1>the President's pre occupations. That's interesting to that press conference

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<v Speaker 1>because I know, I feel like, um, Jeff Sessions has

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<v Speaker 1>been somewhat quiet. He did make some comments that almost

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<v Speaker 1>made you feel kind of bad bad for him when

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<v Speaker 1>he said when he was asked about, you know, some

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<v Speaker 1>of the criticisms from President Trump, uh, and he talked

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<v Speaker 1>about how it was hurtful. He say, it's kind of

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<v Speaker 1>hurtfully said, and yeah, that was to say. And yet

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<v Speaker 1>he also said at that time that he was going

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<v Speaker 1>to be doing something to crackdown on leak leaks. Are

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<v Speaker 1>christ Strong reports that this will be an announcement along

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<v Speaker 1>with Director of National Intelligence coach tomorrow of of an

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<v Speaker 1>effort to crack down on leaks with within the intelligence agencies,

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<v Speaker 1>but on any specific prosecution or new case, but a

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<v Speaker 1>general move to pick up the pace on on leaks.

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<v Speaker 1>And that's something the president feel strongly about. The press

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<v Speaker 1>conference to are by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. What what

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<v Speaker 1>are we anticipating from him? Well, again, Uh, they want

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<v Speaker 1>more internal efforts in the FBI and the Justice Department

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<v Speaker 1>and the intelligence agencies to crack down, and they also

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<v Speaker 1>want to be more aggressive on prosecutions. Uh. Now, again,

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<v Speaker 1>one of the mysteries of this is the president's uh

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<v Speaker 1>preoccupation with leaks. In many cases, not all has to

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<v Speaker 1>do with leaks about the Russian Russia investigation, and Sessions

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<v Speaker 1>has recused himself from that, so presumably he won't be

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<v Speaker 1>involved in prosecuting leaks from that investigation either. But generally speaking,

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<v Speaker 1>he's going to try to show that he's on the

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<v Speaker 1>same wavelength as a president in UH in trying to

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<v Speaker 1>move against leaks of government information. Yeah. Well, fascinating to

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<v Speaker 1>see and maybe, you know, things are coming down a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit so that the administration can kind of move forward.

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<v Speaker 1>I guess we'll see Larry, Thank you so much. Appreciate

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<v Speaker 1>your time. Lar Libert he is our National Security Team

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<v Speaker 1>editor here at Bloomberg News, joining us from our Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>ninety n one studio in the nation's capital. You can

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<v Speaker 1>check out more of Larry stories and other stories UH

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<v Speaker 1>dealing with the government. Just go to Bloomberg dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Carol Masser. Corey Johnson, my co host, is off today.

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