For Sessions, Trump's constant attacks may define his legacy

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has vigorously pushed President Donald Trump's agenda at the Justice Department, and before that, spent 20 years championing conservative causes in the Senate.

Yet as Sessions enters what may be the final stretch of his Cabinet tenure, those efforts are at risk of being eclipsed by his boss' frequent verbal attacks that have made Sessions seem like a presidential punching bag. It's a role he never asked for, though perhaps could have anticipated.

The steady diatribes, most recently a tweet excoriating Sessions for the federal indictments of two Republican congressmen, reflect Trump's outrage over the special counsel's Russia investigation. They are all the more striking because Sessions is the Trump agency leader most clearly aligned with Trump's values.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions waits to speak at the dedication for the United States Courthouse for the Southern District of Alabama in Mobile, Ala., on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. (AP PhotoDan Anderson)

Sessions' allies say his treatment by Trump is overshadowing the attorney general's work on violent crime, illegal immigration and opioid addiction, and clouding a legacy of achievement that in other times would be more broadly cheered in conservative circles.

"There are folks that ask me constantly, 'What's wrong with Sessions?'" said former Cincinnati mayor Ken Blackwell, a longtime friend. The drumbeat of criticism is "eroding what otherwise would be a very respectable portfolio," he said.

"The punches that he throws in Sessions' direction are landing and they're distorting the track record," Blackwell added, "and they're having people start to question not just his loyalty to the president but his competency — when his record is a very successful record and could be compared to any other Cabinet secretary."

U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., left, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, center, and U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., react at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the United States Courthouse for the Southern District of Alabama Friday, Sept. 7, 2018, in Mobile, Ala. (AP PhotoDan Anderson)

Sessions has, for the most part, absorbed the blows quietly while marching through a tough-on-crime agenda. He has encouraged more aggressive marijuana enforcement, directed prosecutors to bring the most serious charges they can prove, announced a zero-tolerance policy for immigrants crossing the border illegally and targeted the MS-13 gang.

The hard-line principles that once placed him far to the right of many other Republican senators remain intact at the Justice Department, where critics fear Sessions is eroding civil rights protections by not defending affirmative action, police reform or transgender legal rights.

But neither Sessions' work as the nation's top law enforcement official nor his loyalty seems to resonate with Trump. The president has belittled his attorney general since Sessions stepped aside from an investigation into ties between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia. Trump interpreted the move, which legal experts said was inevitable given Sessions' campaign support, as an act of disloyalty that led to special counsel Robert Mueller's appointment.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at the dedication for the United States Courthouse for the Southern District of Alabama, Friday, Sept. 7, 2018, in Mobile, Ala. (AP PhotoDan Anderson)

Trump has said that if he had known Sessions would withdraw from overseeing the investigation, he would not have picked the Alabama Republican to be attorney general. The president now asserts that Sessions never has had control of the department. He also accuses Sessions of failing to aggressively pursue Trump's political rivals and to investigate potential bias in the Russia investigation.

Trump told Bloomberg News last week that Sessions' job was safe through the November election. The president gave no reassurances about after that. Meanwhile, the solid Republican support in the Senate that has buffered Sessions is showing signs of cracking.

The most recent broadside, about the charges against the two GOP lawmakers, was stunning for its norm-shattering obliteration of the bright line between the White House and Justice Department. Trump said the indictments, coming before an election when control of Congress is at stake, had left "two easy wins now in doubt." Trump ended the tweet with a sarcastic "Good job Jeff."

U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., speaks with Attorney General Jeff Sessions during the dedication for the United States Courthouse for the Southern District of Alabama in Mobile, Ala. on Sept. 7, 2018. (AP PhotoDan Anderson)

"You're harassing the attorney general for not dealing with political bias at the DOJ and then conversely accusing him of not engaging in political bias at the DOJ," said Cameron Smith, a former Sessions counsel in the Senate. "Those cannot both be simultaneously consistent positions."

Sessions didn't respond to that criticism, though in the past year he has issued statements saying the department will not bend to political considerations and that he always has served with integrity and honor. His only mentions of Trump are laudatory, and in public appearances, Sessions is far more likely to focus on the work that has impassioned him for decades than on the controversies around him.

The criticism has created an unusual dynamic where Trump-aligned Republicans who ordinarily would praise Sessions are joining in the condemnation, while progressives opposed to his agenda fear that his firing for political reasons could destabilize democracy.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at the dedication for the United States Courthouse for the Southern District of Alabama, Friday, Sept. 7, 2018, in Mobile, Ala. (AP PhotoDan Anderson)

Vanita Gupta, the Justice Department civil rights chief in the Obama administration, said she believed Sessions was terrible for civil rights but she did not want him dismissed as a means of crippling Mueller's investigation.

"It isn't about protecting Jeff Sessions," Gupta said. "It's about protecting the notion that nobody is above the law in this country and that the Constitution applies to everybody."

It wasn't always this way for Sessions, a federal prosecutor during the 1980s-era "war on drugs." His conservative Senate positions, including opposing bipartisan legislation that would have created a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the country illegally, made him a natural fit for Trump.

Sessions was the first senator to endorse Trump, and he joined the candidate for campaigning and foreign policy meetings. The loyalty paid off with the attorney general post, but it also wound up entangling him in the Russia investigation.

Even as Sessions has pushed the Trump agenda, he has confronted headlines about his campaign interactions with the Russian ambassador and about his attendance at a campaign meeting where the prospect of a Trump-Vladimir Putin meeting was broached.

"It's not as if Trump's background didn't have a lot of red flags in it and Sessions decided, 'Hey, I want to get on board with this person' and it frankly turned out poorly for him as a person," said Smith, the former Sessions aide. "I do think that's a lesson in discretion."

Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo in Washington and Jay Reeves in Alabaster, Alabama, contributed to this report.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A high-level U.S. delegation met Sunday with the head of Bangladesh's interim government, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, to affirm “dedication to fostering inclusive economic growth," according to the American embassy in Dhaka.

Yunus took over after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country last month amid a mass uprising. She was accused of corruption, violation of human rights and excessive use of force against the protesters.

During her 15-year rule, Hasina enjoyed close relations with India, China and Russia who have heavily invested in the country’s infrastructure development, trade and investment. The U.S. has also become the single largest foreign investor in Bangladesh under Hasina.

Yunus on Sunday said he sought U.S. support “to rebuild the country, carry out vital reforms, and bring back stolen assets,” his press office said in a statement after he met the delegation at the State Guest House Jamuna in Dhaka.

He told the U.S. representatives his interim administration has moved fast to “reset, reform, and restart” the economy, initiate reforms in financial sectors, and fix institutions such as the judiciary and police, the statement said.

The U.S. delegation, led by Brent Neiman, assistant secretary for International Finance at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, had representatives from the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Donald Lu, assistant secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, joined the delegation after visiting India.

They met with several officials in Dhaka, including Touhid Hossain, the country’s adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The USAID also signed an agreement to provide $202.25 million in aid to Bangladesh.

The U.S. embassy on X underscored how American companies are entrenched in the South Asian country.

“With the right economic reforms in place, the American private sector can help unlock Bangladesh’s growth potential through trade and investment,” the embassy wrote on its official account.

The delegation also met representatives of the American companies under the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) operating in Bangladesh upon arriving Saturday.

Concerns over safety and lack of order in Bangladesh were relayed by the companies' agents.

AmCham President Syed Ershad Ahmed said at the meeting that while there were improvements after the interim government was installed, “there are some bottlenecks too.” Profit repatriation amid the ongoing crisis of U.S. dollars and challenges in the supply chain resulting from congestion at ports were among the issues he raised.

The meeting came as unrest took hold of the country's major garment industry with workers walking out, leaving factories shuttered, as they demanded better benefits including higher wages. The factory owners, the government and workers’ leaders are holding meetings to ease the tension.

Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate-induced disasters. The U.S. embassy on its official Facebook page said the United States wanted to help it "mitigate climate risks.”

Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed, Adviser to Bangladesh's interim government's Ministry of Finance, center, speaks to media personnel after the signing of the 6th amendment of 'The Development Objective Grant Agreement (DOAG)' between US and Bangladesh, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)

Md. Jashim Uddin, Foreign Secretary in Bangladesh's interim government, speaks to media personnel after the signing of the 6th amendment of 'The Development Objective Grant Agreement (DOAG)' between the United States and Bangladesh, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)

Anjali Kaur, Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Asia, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), center, speaks to media personnel after the signing of the 6th amendment of 'The Development Objective Grant Agreement (DOAG)' between US and Bangladesh, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)

Reed J. Aeschliman, USAID Mission Director for Bangladesh, front left, and A. K. M. Shahabuddin, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Bangladesh, pose for a photograph with other officials after signing the 6th amendment of 'The Development Objective Grant Agreement (DOAG)' in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)

This photo handed out provided by Bangladesh Press Information Department (PID) shows Brent Neiman, US Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Finance and Development, left, speaking with Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh's interim government's leader, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Sep. 15, 2024. (PID via AP)