The short version is that Donald Trump has just replaced his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, with a man named Matt Whitaker, who has previously shown himself to be extremely hostile to the Mueller investigation (the probe into whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election). This is a big deal, and many people are of the opinion that it's the first step in Trump attempting to shut down the Russia probe. The planned protests are in opposition to this.

For the longer version, let's start with the basics:

**Who's Jeff Sessions, and what does he have to do with Russia?**

Jeff Sessions was Trump's Attorney General, a Cabinet-level position which made him head of the Justice Department. He was a very, *very* early supporter of Trump; back when he was in the Senate, he was the first Senator to endorse Trump when most people thought his campaign for the White House was either a joke or a total non-starter. (Trump would later claim that [the *only* reason he nominated Sessions for the role of AG was because of his loyalty in the early days](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-sessions-was-given-attorney-general-job-only-because-of-his-loyalty-during-campaign/2018/08/23/47d7c20c-a6c7-11e8-8fac-12e98c13528d_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d66d7faaa9e1); figuring out how true that is is left as an exercise for the reader.) This would later prove to be important, because shortly after Trump was elected, serious concerns began to be raised about whether or not the Trump campaign had knowingly colluded with Russia in order to influence the election in a way that would be against the law. (There were other issues, including the reason why Trump fired the head of the FBI, James Comey -- and whether that was an attempt at obstructing an investigation into his connections with Russia -- but that's the main thrust of it. Other loops have dealt with the topic in more detail.) As head of the DOJ, Sessions was in charge of any investigation that would take place. This caused a lot of uproar because it was viewed by many that Sessions would have a conflict of interest; in short, because he was so close to the Trump campaign, Sessions was viewed as being incapable of being impartial in the way that Department of Justice officials are expected to be. (There was also the not-so-minor issue of him *maybe* [lying under oath](https://www.factcheck.org/2017/03/did-sessions-lie/) about meetings with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.) As such, he recused himself from the investigation, passing all decisionmaking down to the next man in line, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

This didn't sit well with Trump. We'll be getting to that.

**So what happened with the Russia probe?**

The investigation began in May 2017, and was headed up by former FBI Director Robert Mueller. Mueller is a registered Republican, but he was generally considered to be a solid pick, favoured by Democrats and Republicans alike. He has a reputation for being completely unimpeachable, so the idea was that he would be unbiased and throrough in his investigation. Trump was less thrilled, and almost immediately began painting a picture of the Mueller investigation as an unfair attack on him; by mid-June, he was calling it a 'Witch Hunt' on Twitter, which has become sort of a rallying cry whenever the topic is brought up. Again, going into massive amounts of detail on what the Mueller investigation discovered would take post after post, but the short version is that it has led to several indictments of Trump campaign staff and twelve Russian nationals, with several likely plea deals that have -- as yet -- not been revealed to the public. As Paul Waldman in the *Washington Post* put it: ['If this is a ‘witch hunt,’ it sure is finding a lot of witches'](https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/07/13/if-this-is-a-witch-hunt-it-sure-is-finding-a-lot-of-witches/?utm_term=.b301cce5f6ed).

As time wore on, the Trump administration began claiming that the Mueller probe wasn't moving fast enough. Throughout the summer, Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani claimed over and over again that Mueller had to ensure that the investigation released its report by the time the midterms rolled around ([despite Mueller making no such claims, and there being no such rule](https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/09/politics/rudy-giuliani-fact-check-mueller-investigation-russia/index.html)). Efforts by the Trump administration to downplay the Russia probe mounted throughout 2018 as it became [increasingly more polarising](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-russia-investigation-isnt-less-popular-its-just-more-polarizing/), with Democrats becoming more in favour and Republicans becoming more opposed. As they did, Trump's attacks on Jeff Sessions became [more and more prominent.](https://www.axios.com/donald-trump-jeff-sessions-tweets-comments-150cf9a2-1a96-4a27-88aa-e000bb285a09.html) As early as July 2017, Trump was making comments about how he was opposed to Sessions recusing himself from the matter -- ["Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else."](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/trump-interview-sessions-russia.html) -- and floating the question of just what would happen if he fired Sessions. However, warned of political backlash, he didn't, instead increasingly turning on his earliest supporter. In July of 2018, he tweeted:

>[The Russian Witch Hunt Hoax continues, all because Jeff Sessions didn’t tell me he was going to recuse himself...I would have quickly picked someone else. So much time and money wasted, so many lives ruined...and Sessions knew better than most that there was No Collusion!](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1003962584352030720)

Sessions hit back repeatedly during this time, asserting that he did [the right thing by recusing himself](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-sessions-trump/sessions-pushes-back-at-trump-vows-justice-department-impartiality-idUSKCN1GC2VN):

>“We have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary,” Sessions said in a statement. He said the department “will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution.”

Then things went quiet.

**The Midterms, and what happened next.**

Generally speaking, no one likes to rock the boat too much before any sort of election; as we found out in 2016 with James Comey and Hillary Clinton's emails, any major announcement -- regardless of how well-intentioned -- can have a serious impact on voting habits, and the departments in question tend to be focused (at least in theory) on remaining impartial. After a busy summer, the Mueller investigation seemed to grind to a halt. (It's important to note that it was still working away behind the scenes, but the major arrests of the summer -- Manafort and Cohen, who technically weren't under the auspices of the Russia probe but who were arrested based on information found as a result of it -- gave way to an eerie silence from that front.) Similarly, Trump's desire to fire Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein (he repeatedly asserted his right to do both, and there was [a whole thing in September](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/26/donald-trump-rod-rosenstein-meeting-delay) where it seemed, briefly, that Trump was likely to fire the Deputy AG) quieted down too, as Republicans warned him [that it would be a very bad look just before the election.](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-23/republican-allies-warn-trump-now-s-not-time-to-fire-rosenstein) However, expectations that one or both of them wouldn't last much longer than November 6th (the date of the midterms) were high. This turned out to be more true than anyone could have predicted.

All of which brings us to the election. While the Republicans kept the Senate, the Democrats took control of the House, which gives them a lot more capability in terms of oversight; in one fell swoop, Trump's near-total control over the US's political system took a massive hit. Democrats immediately promised action, including suggestions that they might force Trump to reveal his tax returns, and promising protection for the Mueller probe should Trump try to shut it down.

One day later, Jeff Sessions resigned from his role as Attorney General.

It's important to note here that 'resigned' is a very particular piece of terminology. Make no mistake, Sessions was pushed out non-voluntarily; he didn't exactly leave the post of his own free will, but was asked to by the President. (Actually Chief of Staff John Kelly; for a man whose catchphrase was 'You're Fired!', Trump doesn't like doing the deed himself.) Sessions's resignation letter makes that much pretty clear; it begins ['At your request, I am submitting my resignation.'](https://www.vox.com/world/2018/11/7/18072940/jeff-sessions-resignation-letter) (There also seemed to be some rebuke to Trump and a restatement that Sessions feels did nothing wrong: 'Most importantly, in my time as Attorney General we have restored and upheld the rule of law — a glorious tradition that each of us has a responsibility to safeguard. We have operated with integrity and have lawfully and aggressively advanced the policy agenda of this administration.') Either way, Sessions was gone.

**That brings us up to today. For what happens next, why it matters that Sessions resigned rather than being fired, and what these protests are about -- I promise, I didn't forget -- you can click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/9v5yz1/whats_the_deal_with_the_protests_for_thursday_nov/e99u7v8/).**

An eloquent retort as usual. Care to refute any of the points? Pick one I would be happy to source it.

Thank you for providing my sources for me! If you bother even reading what you posted you will see 2 things...

Several people they picked up surrounding Trump whom they dug to the bottom of the barrel to manufacture charges over, none of which have anything to do with Russia BTW. Then you have a handful of Russians that supposedly did all this hacking, that have NOTHING to do with Trump.

This is how lazy people like you are, and how willing you are to have your bias confirmed. You are too lazy to completely read even your own posts which prove your OWN ARGUMENT wrong!

But investigate that dirty Clinton more! WITCH HUNT AGAINST TRUMP, LEGIT INVESTIGATION AGAINST CLINTON.

Michelle, not Barack!

BREAKING: PROTESTS CALLED FOR THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 5 PM LOCAL TIME
Donald Trump has installed a crony to oversee the Special Counsel Trump-Russia investigation, crossing a red line set to protect the investigation. By replacing Rod Rosenstein with just-named Acting Attorney General Matt Whittaker as special counsel Robert Mueller's boss on the investigation, Trump has undercut the independence of the investigation. Whittaker has publicly outlined strategies to stifle the investigation and cannot be allowed to remain in charge of it. The Nobody Is Above the Law network demands that Whittaker immediately commit not to assume supervision of the investigation. Our hundreds of response events are being launched to demonstrate the public demand for action to correct this injustice. We will update this page as the situation develops.

If you are going to repeat my own words back to me thinking it makes you look smart, it doesn't. It helps if you know what they mean to begin with. I didn't "shotgun" anything, I replied to the shotgun of arguments within that opinion piece so you lazily substituted for your own arguments. Tell me, what part of your argument about the definition of what a "few" years is proves Donald Trump is racist when the government suit was settled without admission of guilt? is that your standard of evidence? He was accused? Oh right that is the new standard of the left, everyone we don't like is guilty upon accusation.

Court records showed that "four superintendents or rental agents confirmed that applications sent to the Trump organization's central office for acceptance or rejection were coded by race." A rental agent said Fred Trump had instructed him "not to rent to blacks" and to "decrease the number of black tenants" "by encouraging them to locate housing elsewhere." A consent decree between the DOJ and the TO was signed on June 10, 1975, with both sides claiming victory—the TO for its perceived ability to continue denying rentals to welfare recipients, and the head of DOJ's housing division for the decree being "one of the most far-reaching ever negotiated." It personally and corporately prohibited the Trumps from "discriminating against any person in the ... sale or rental of a dwelling," and "required Trump to advertise vacancies in minority papers, promote minorities to professional jobs, and list vacancies on a preferential basis with the Open Housing Center of the Urban League." Finally, it ordered the Trumps to "thoroughly acquaint themselves personally on a detailed basis with ... the Fair Housing Act of 1968."

Yes, please do go into each individually, isn't that the topic of this thread? Also I already asked you to do this, break it down in your own words. Have a debate instead of shotgunning other people's opinions at me as if they are your own and are fact.

Tell me please, what exactly about you posted argues against what I stated?