Jeff Sessions Says He Would Recuse Himself From Any Hillary Clinton Cases

WASHINGTON Sen. Jeff Sessions said Tuesday that, if confirmed by the Senate to be President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general, he would recuse himself in the event of any possible prosecution related to Hillary Clinton .

The Alabama Republican said comments he made about Clinton during a “highly contentious” presidential campaign “could place my objectivity in question,” and so he thought the proper move would be to recuse himself from any decisions in cases relating to the former secretary of state.

“We can never have a political dispute turn into a criminal dispute,” he said, adding that “this country does not punish its political enemies.”

During the campaign, Trump said he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton’s email practices while at the State Department. Shortly after the election, however, the real estate mogul said prosecuting Clinton isn’t something he felt very strongly about, despite the popularity of the “lock her up” chant that originated among his supporters and surrogates.

“That plays great before the election now we don’t care, right?” Trump said at a December rally.

But Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Monday that the committee would continue its investigation into Clinton’s email use . 

“This was never a political targeting from the beginning,” Chaffetz said. “Just because there’s a political election doesn’t mean it goes away. So of course I’m going to continue to pursue that.”