On Sessions recusal: Before making decision, he consulted beyond permanent DOJ bureaucracy, which he knew wanted him to recuse. But others, outside conservative lawyers he trusted, also saw no option other than recusal. 1/9

Sessions still believes he had no choice and recusal was required. Told Trump so in notable fashion on Twitter last night. 2/9

Was recusal really Sessions' only option? Arguable. But fact is, howling Washington mob gets results, demanding investigation, playing to DOJ policies that require recusal. 3/9

Look at 2003, when howling Washington mob led to appointment of special counsel to investigate CIA leak affair. One of BS investigations of all time. Went on 3+ years when prosecutor knew identity of leaker at start. (And never prosecuted him!) 4/9

Off top of head, only time howling Washington mob did not get results was 1996-1997, when Clinton AG Janet Reno steadfastly refused to seek independent counsel to probe Clinton-Trie-Chung-Huang campaign finance scandal. 5/9

There was overwhelming case for independent counsel -- plus foreign adversary meddling in a US election! 6/9 https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/byron-york-when-a-foreign-adversary-meddled-in-a-presidential-election

But Reno (with Clinton's approval, of course) just flat stonewalled. Outrageous. To be fair, it was also after several other independent counsels, most notably Starr, were already investigating Clinton. 7/9

Could Sessions (and more importantly, Trump) have stonewalled the howling Washington mob like Reno and Clinton did? Unknown. But seems unlikely. And Sessions still believes he did right thing. 8/9