Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday joked about his departure from the Trump administration, noting that his "pink slip" was probably more public than some others.

“A lot of people have gotten pink slips, I guess, but mine’s is a little more public than most,” Sessions joked while speaking at the annual Chicago Crime Commission awards dinner.

He also quipped about the new role he got when he was dismissed.

“About a month ago I got a new title: former.”

Sessions said that he did appreciate his time serving in the Justice Department.

“I enjoyed the honor … I’m satisfied and fulfilled with what we were able to accomplish.”

President Trump asked Sessions to leave his attorney general post in early November.

Sessions had become a frequent target of Trump's due to his decision to recuse himself from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential collusion between Trump's campaign and Moscow.

Trump repeatedly lashed out at Sessions over the recusal and other alleged failures.

The strained relationship appeared to reach a pivotal point in August when, in a Fox News interview, Trump faulted Sessions for failing to take control of “corruption” at the Justice Department and suggested he had only brought him into the administration because he demonstrated “loyalty” during the presidential campaign.

Sessions was the first Senator to endorse Trump on the campaign trail.

Trump replaced him with acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, an appointment which has drawn scrutiny due to his stated positions on Mueller's probe.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/418847-sessions-a-lot-of-people-have-gotten-pink-slips-i-guess-but-mines-a

Nice of them to make a list for everyone to see!

Prison is always creeping into President Trump’s thoughts. On Twitter, in interviews, at campaign rallies, the president is constantly referencing jail or crimes punishable by time inside a cramped cell.

It is not that Trump is focusing on how two members of his inner circle — Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort — are looking at serious prison sentences. Rather, Trump’s mind is constantly zeroing in on allegations and felonious innuendos related to his enemies. It seems that if you are on the president’s bad side, jail or prison is where you belong. Trump generally fires off these claims despite having zero obvious evidence of any actual illegal behavior.

Wednesday was a good example. On Trump’s Twitter page, the president shared a meme from a supporter’s account showing a variety of Trump enemies locked up behind bars. Included in the cast of characters was Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, the Justice Department official who until recently was overseeing special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian election interference.

When asked later about why he would share an image featuring Rosenstein locked up, Trump had a blunt answer: “He should have never picked a special counsel,” Trump told the New York Post.

pic.twitter.com/FWJRNzBUB3

— The Trump Train 🚂🇺🇸 (@The_Trump_Train) November 28, 2018

Rosenstein joins a crowded roster. The president often undercuts his political enemies by suggesting they are criminals or have broken the law in some way. It’s a group that contains the usual suspects (the Clintons), “the Democrats” in general, as he tweeted Thursday morning, and some surprises (Snoop Dogg?).

What follows is a by-no-means-complete list of the figures the president has publicly said should be jailed or investigated or has accused of committing high crimes and misdemeanors — allegations that seem to have no basis in reality.

Perched at the top of the list is obviously Hillary Clinton. As Trump’s foe in the bitter 2016 presidential election, Clinton was an easy target for Trump’s attacks. “Lock her up” chants are still a fixture at Trump’s rallies. Just weeks before the presidential election, then-candidate Trump tweeted: “Hillary Clinton should have been prosecuted and should be in jail. Instead she is running for president in what looks like a rigged election.”

Did you ever see an investigation more in search of a crime? At the same time Mueller and the Angry Democrats aren’t even looking at the atrocious, and perhaps subversive, crimes that were committed by Crooked Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. A total disgrace!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2018

Second only to Clinton is the Obama administration, which has been a regular foil for Trump’s barbs. “The Obama Administration is now accused of trying to give Iran secret access to the financial system of the United States,” Trump jabbed on Twitter last June. “This is totally illegal.”

Let’s not forget James B. Comey, the former FBI director whose termination last year sparked much of the legal hassles that have consumed Trump’s presidency. As the New York Times reported earlier this month, the president wanted the Justice Department to prosecute both Clinton and Comey.

Liberal philanthropist George Soros, a figure of contempt on the right, is also among the individuals Trump has targeted for incarceration. Only hours after a pipe bomb was delivered to Soros’s home last month, the president gave a White House speech calling for unity. When members of the audience yelled Soros’s name and “Lock him up,” Trump reportedly laughed and repeated the phrase.

Trump is quick to point out corruption and possible bad acts everywhere.

Continued here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/11/29/an-incomplete-list-all-people-donald-trump-has-said-should-be-jailed/?utm_term=.b6c7b258d89d

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration is considering new background checks and other restrictions on Chinese students in the United States over growing espionage concerns, U.S. officials and congressional sources said.

In June, the U.S. State Department shortened the length of visas for Chinese graduate students studying aviation, robotics and advanced manufacturing to one year from five. U.S. officials said the goal was to curb the risk of spying and theft of intellectual property in areas vital to national security.

But now the Trump administration is weighing whether to subject Chinese students to additional vetting before they attend a U.S. school. The ideas under consideration, previously unreported, include checks of student phone records and scouring of personal accounts on Chinese and U.S. social media platforms for anything that might raise concerns about students’ intentions in the United States, including affiliations with government organizations, a U.S. official and three congressional and university sources told Reuters.

U.S. law enforcement is also expected to provide training to academic officials on how to detect spying and cyber theft that it provides to people in government, a senior U.S. official said.

“Every Chinese student who China sends here has to go through a party and government approval process,” one senior U.S. official told Reuters. “You may not be here for espionage purposes as traditionally defined, but no Chinese student who’s coming here is untethered from the state.”

The White House declined comment on the new student restrictions under review. Asked what consideration was being given to additional vetting, a State Department official said: “The department helps to ensure that those who receive U.S. visas are eligible and pose no risk to national interests.”

The Chinese government has repeatedly insisted that Washington has exaggerated the problem for political reasons. China’s ambassador to the United States told Reuters the accusations were groundless and “very indecent.”

“Why should anybody accuse them as spies? I think that this is extremely unfair for them,” Ambassador Cui Tiankai said.

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet at a G20 summit in Argentina this week.

more here:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-students-exclusive/exclusive-fearing-espionage-u-s-weighs-tighter-rules-on-chinese-students-idUSKCN1NY1HE