Sorry, Jeff. This isn’t going to get you out of the dog house. The stain of that initial recusal will haunt you until Trump fires you or the indignity of being Trump’s little whipping boy becomes too much to bear.

While testifying before the House on Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions suggested that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation needs to wrap up, in order to allow for President Trump to focus on things like negotiations with North Korea, the promised border wall, and what ever else it is that Trump does when he’s not on Twitter.

During his testimony, the MAGA section of the House wanted to know why Sessions let the Mueller probe continue, but had done nothing to “Lock her up,” in reference to Hillary Clinton.

“At the very root of this, I think my constituents are frustrated, are angry, they see a double standard historically. They want justice,” said Rep. Evan Jenkins, West Virginia Republican, ticking off a number of red flags he said deserved the heightened powers a special counsel should look at.

If there be any standards, you avoid the appearance of politically-motivated investigations. I can agree the Clinton email scandal was handled POORLY, to use the best possible term. It needs to be reopened, and every intern or IT tech that was involved in the handling of those servers needs to be nailed to the wall.

Starting an investigation now, while the Russia probe is still ongoing gives exactly the kind of optics that nobody should want.

Sessions seems to agree, somewhat.

Mr. Sessions said he didn’t want to appoint special counsels “willy-nilly” but said his department is taking deliberate steps. He’s named a U.S. attorney to oversee an investigation and coordinate with the inspector general whose probe has been ongoing for months.

He also said they’re sharing an unprecedented amount of information with GOP-led congressional committees who are probing the same matters.

“If there’s wrongdoing we’re going to take action about it,” he said.

I’m pretty sure the Trump loyalists would let the Hillary thing go, if Sessions would step in and let Trump off the hook, by firing Robert Mueller.

As it is, what happens with Mueller is in the hands of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Sessions has been a target of Trump’s caustic tweets, as well as the subject of ire for legions of Trump’s devotees, who see his recusal from the Russia probe as a betrayal, rather than an act of ethical concern.

The attorney general has made allusions in the past to appeasing the president, but nothing has stuck.

“He’s dealing with France and North Korea and Syria and taxes and regulations and border and crime every day,” Mr. Sessions said. “This thing needs to conclude. So I understand his frustrations and I understand the American people’s frustrations.”

Some of us care more about the well-being of the nation and assuring there is no influence from hostile foreign players involved in the top echelons of our government than we care about partisan loyalty, so, just let Mueller do his job.

If Trump is innocent, he’s got nothing to worry about.

Correction: April 26, 2018 5:35 p.m m. – The title of this post was updated to reflect a more accurate reading of Jeff Sessions comments.