Watch: Ben Sasse Gives Stark Warning to Trump During Floor Speech

Sen. Ben Sasse gave a stark warning to Pres. Donald Trump today. Telling the president that if he has a mind to firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions during Congress’s August recess and appointing a new AG, bypassing the Senate, he should “forget about it.”

Watch.

“In the fall of 2015 when I first spoke here on the Senate floor, I gave Nebraskans and every member of this body my word that I would speak up when a Republican president exceeded his or her power. At that moment the Democratic president had taken to himself powers that the Constitution had not given him. My opposition was not that President Obama was a Democrat,  but rather that our brilliant constitution intentionally separates the executive and legislative powers.

I gave my promise because then, because despite the lazy rhetoric of this city,  not everything is actually a blood feud between Republicans and Democrats. That’s because American politics at our best are acutely aware of the difference between justice and strength. That’s because when our body is working well here in the Senate, we take seriously our history, our duties, and the unique place in the Constitutions architecture of separate powers both vertically and horizontally.

In 2014 the Supreme Court ruled that the Obama administration had made unconstitutional appointments when it declared [the Senate] to be in recess when the U.S. Senate was not in fact in recess…the administration functionally claimed power that belonged to the Senate under our constitution.

So today, I’ve come to the floor to keep my promise and to offer a word of humble advice to the President.

If you’re thinking of making a recess appointment to push out the Attorney General, forget about it. 

The presidency isn’t a bull and this country isn’t a china shop.

Mr. President, you’re a public servant. In a system of limited government, with a duty to uphold, defend and to teach to our kids the Constitution’s system of checks and balances. And this…this…is the world’s greatest experience in self-government. It works only if all of us: presidents, senators, Republicans, Democrats, Independents and judges, if we all keep our faith to the American institutions and to the rule of law.

Our oath is not to popularity, it’s not to polls, it’s not to political parties. Our oath is to the Constitution and the rule of law. Our duty is to the American people, the men and women who elected us.”

The Congress is set to recess in just over a week at this point. The fact that healthcare and any kind of tax reform is still hanging out there has had many asking whether Congress should recess during August as usual.

Honestly, I think a lot of Americans would rather they go home…permanently. If they’re not in session, they’re not screwing the country over with business as usual. Congress remaining in session will not mean Obamacare repeal and it won’t mean a tax reform bill.

I think I can speak for a lot of American sentiment when I say, “Go home, Steve. Go home. Go home. Go home.” We all need a break and to enjoy the rest of summer, baseball and pre-season NFL games.

Hopefully Pres. Trump realizes a firing of Sessions and a recess appointment would not help him in any way whatsoever. The first six months were a mess, the next six are shaping up to be worse and shouldn’t be. There is no, “he’s new to this” anymore. Get yourself together, Mister President.

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