In a shocking turn of events, Senator Jeff Sessions, who Donald Trump has tapped for his attorney general, has made a decision to recuse himself from any investigations dealing with Hillary Clinton.
Advertisement
Before the nomination hearings began, Code Pink protesters, shrouded in Klu Klux Khan hoods, protested the nomination of Sessions with signs “End Racism, Stop Sessions” and ‘Hate Sessions’.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala), the Attorney general nominee, defended his record on civil rights during in his opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
Democrats, Trump haters and civil rights groups are attacking Sessions’ record as US attorney in Alabama in the 1980s, especially on the heels of Steve Bannon’s appointment as Trump’s chief strategist.
The two fake Klansmen were quickly escorted out as one of the men exclaimed, “You can’t arrest me!”
Sessions was also blocked for a federal judgeship by a Republican-led committee during the Reagan administration over 30 years ago.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, asked Sessions whether he agreed with Trump’s view that the “United States can or should deny entry to all members of a particular religion”.
It appears Booker will be the first sitting senator to testify against a colleague during a confirmation hearing.
The men wearing KKK caps, standing on chairs in the Senate hearing room, claimed they were Sessions’ #1 fans.
During a 1994 campaign for Alabam attorney general, Sessions came out in support of chain gangs – forced labour of prisoners – and life sentences for children as young as 14 years old, the progressive Mother Jones news site reports.
Grassley followed up, noting that current Attorney General Loretta Lynch did not formally recuse herself from the investigation, but instead deferred any recommendations of charges to FBI Director James Comey.
Cotton said Booker feels “compelled” to speak out against the Alabama Republican because Sessions wants to “keep criminals behind bars, drugs off our streets, and amnesty from becoming law”.
Advertisement
Sessions cast himself as a strong protector of law and order, promising that as attorney general he would crack down on illegal immigration, gun violence and the “scourge of radical Islamic terrorism”.
