BRINGING THE HEAT
Attorney general nominee promises to protect rights of all
• During his U. S. Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday, U. S. attorney general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions vowed to make prosecutions of gun crimes a high priority.
• He also said police officers in Chicago and elsewhere have been ‘‘ unfairly’’ blamed for the actions of a few and said ‘‘ local law enforcement must know they are supported.’’ •
Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, President- elect Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee, rejected on Tuesday the “false caricature” of his views on racial tolerance.
Facing a barrage of challenges to his record on civil rights enforcement, he asserted that the Justice Department under his direction would “never falter in its obligation to protect the rights of every American, particularly those who are most vulnerable.’’
The first of the Trump administration’s most controversial nominees to appear for Senate confirmation, the 70- year- old former federal prosecutor and state attorney general arrived to a marbleen crusted hearing room packed with protesters. He tried to allay myriad grievances over racially charged statements and his long anti- immigration record.
Before he could take his seat at the witness table, protesters wearing Ku Klux Klan costumes erupted with shouts of “white power” before they were ushered out, the first clash of several pitting demonstrators against Capitol police. At least eight others were dragged out during the course of the session, some yelling, “No Trump, no KKK, no racist USA.”
Sessions sat silently while protesters were moved before he pressed ahead.
He affirmed to the Senate Judiciary Committee that “I deeply un-
derstand the history of civil rights and the horrendous impact that relentless and systemic discrimination and the denial of voting rights has had on our African-American brothers and sisters. I have witnessed it. ... While humans must recognize the the limits of their abilities — and I do — I am ready for this job. We will do it right.”
Addressing claims that he sympathized with hate groups, including the KKK, and sought to intimidate black voters in a controversial voting fraud prosecution in 1985, Sessions called the assertions “false.”
He denied referring to civil rights organizations as “un- American,” an allegation made during his failed bid for a federal judgeship in 1986.
That hearing, Sessions said, propelled an inaccurate “caricature” of his views on race and equality. “I do hope that I’m perhaps wiser and maybe a little better today,” he said. “I did not harbor the kind of racial insensitivity that I was accused of. I did not.”
Responding to questions from Sen. Patrick Leahy, D- Vt., he rejected any attempt, as once proposed by Trump, to deny prospective Muslim immigrants entry to the USA on the basis of religion.
“I do not believe that Muslims as a religious group should be denied entry to the U. S.,” Sessions said.
As he offered the remarks, Khizr Khan, a vocal critic of Trump and the father of a Muslim soldier killed while serving in Iraq, sat a few rows behind the nominee. Khan has urged the Senate to reject Sessions’ nomination.
On the broader issue of immigration, on which he stands as Congress’ chief opponent to Obama administration efforts at an overhaul, the senator conceded that the federal government lacked the resources to engage in a mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, as Trump has suggested.
“We are not in a position, financially or otherwise, to seek out and remove ( all undocumented immigrants),” Sessions said. “Let’s fix the system.”
He affirmed an unstinting stance on border security.
“We will prosecute those who repeatedly violate our borders,” the nominee told the panel. “It will be my priority to confront these crises vigorously, effectively and immediately.”
In one of the first questions Sessions fielded, he said he would recuse himself from any investigations related to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Sessions said his objectivity could be called into question because of statements about Clinton during the presidential campaign last year.
Some of the most vocal responses from protesters came after Sessions affirmed his support for maintaining the military detention facility holding suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, which the Obama administration has long sought to shut down.
Guantanamo, Sessions told Sen. Lindsey Graham, R- S. C., “fits that purpose marvelously well.”
“No!” shouted protesters who jumped to their feet in the rear gallery.
Though the closure of the controversial facility proved to be a non- starter for Sessions, he acknowledged that the interrogation tactic known as waterboarding was illegal. The senator had expressed support for harsh tactics in questioning terror suspects.
Throughout Tuesday’s session, Sessions appeared largely unflustered during a hearing that featured only rare flashes of emotion from the nominee and committee members.
Sessions sought to distance himself from some of the strident rhetoric espoused during the election campaigns and immediately after Trump’s election.
On Russia’s alleged use of cyber espionage in an attempt to meddle in the presidential election, Sessions left little wiggle room, unlike the president- elect, saying there was “no reason to doubt” the assessment of U. S. intelligence agencies that Russia did seek to influence the election in favor of Trump.
And when Leahy asked whether the unwanted grabbing of the genitals amounted to sexual assault — directly referring to Trump’s tape- recorded comments — Sessions responded with little equivocation: “Clearly it would be.”
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the panel’s ranking Democrat, appeared most uncomfortable Tuesday as she urged a close examination of her longtime colleague’s record and his close association with Trump.
“The senator before us this morning is someone many of us on this committee have worked with for 20 years,” Feinstein said. “Thatmakes this very difficult for me ... We cannot ignore that there are deep concerns and anxiety throughout America. There is a deep fear about what the Trump administration will bring in many places. And it is in this context in which we must consider Sen. Sessions’ record and nomination to become the chief law enforcement officer of America.”
A coalition of civil rights advocates, have stepped up their opposition in recent days, renewing a call for a hearing delay while characterizing the nominee as “unfit.” Many of them were among the hearing room gallery.