Sessions vows he would defy Trump as AG, when necessary
Conservative senator from Alabama denies claims of racism
WASHINGTON — Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama fervently rejected “damnably false” accusations of past racist comments Tuesday as he challenged Democratic concerns about the civil rights commitment he would bring as Donald Trump’s attorney general. He vowed at his confirmation hearing to stay independent from the White House and stand up to Trump when necessary.
Sessions laid out a sharply conservative vision for the Justice Department, pledging to crack down on illegal immigration, gun violence and the “scourge of radical Islamic terrorism,” and to keep open the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
But he also distanced himself from some of Trump’s public pronouncements.
He said waterboarding, a nowbanned harsh interrogation technique that Trump has at times expressed support for, was “absolutely improper and illegal.”
Though he said he would prosecute immigrants who repeatedly enter the country illegally and criticized as constitutionally “questionable” an executive action by President Barack Obama that shielded certain immigrants from deportation, he said he did “not support the idea that Muslims, as a religious group, should be denied admission to the United States.”
Trump, in his campaign, called for a ban on Muslims entering the country, but has more recently proposed “extreme vetting.”
Sessions asserted that he could confront Trump if he needed to, saying an attorney general must be prepared to resign if asked to do something “unlawful or unconstitutional.”
Nothing new came out of the hearing that seemed likely to threaten Sessions’ confirmation by the Republican-dominated Senate.
Yet as he outlined his priorities, his past, including a 1986 judicial nomination that failed amid allegations that he had made racially charged comments, hovered over the proceedings. Protesters calling Sessions a racist repeatedly interrupted and were escorted out by Capitol police.
Sessions vigorously denied that he had ever called the NAACP “un-American.” He also denied that he had referred to a black attorney in his office as “boy.”
“It wasn’t accurate then,” Sessions said. “It isn’t accurate now.”
He said he “understands 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.”
“I know we need to do better. We can never go back,” Sessions said. “I am totally committed to maintaining the freedom and equality that this country has to provide to every citizen.”
Politics got its share of attention, too, with Sessions promising to recuse himself from any investigation there might be into Democrat Hillary Clinton, whom he had criticized during the presidential campaign.
Sessions has solid support from the Senate’s Republican majority and from some Democrats in conservative-leaning states. But he faces a challenge convincing skeptical Democrats that he’ll be fair and committed to civil rights.