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Trump’s Attorney General Nominee Defends Civil Rights Record

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Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for attorney general, defended his civil rights record Tuesday, telling a congressional hearing that he understands the tortured history of voting rights for blacks in the United States.

Sessions, the first of Trump’s Cabinet nominees facing a Senate confirmation hearing this week, assured his colleagues on the Judiciary Committee that he would lead “aggressive enforcement” of U.S. voting laws “without hindrance or discrimination, and to ensure the integrity of the electoral process.”

“As a southerner I saw discrimination,” Sessions said. “I know that was wrong. We needed to do better.”

Sessions faced tough questions from Democrats about his relations with blacks and his past efforts fighting immigration reform. Thirty years ago, the Senate rejected his nomination to be a federal judge because of allegations he made racially insensitive remarks, which Sessions called “damnably false charges.”

Several protesters in a Capitol Hill hearing room at times briefly shouted their opposition to Sessions’ appointment, with police at least once struggling to expel them.

After pausing for one interruption, Sessions, a conservative, four-term senator, vowed to uphold laws protecting minorities and lesbians, gays and transgender people, even if he had at various times during 20 years as a lawmaker voted against legislation they supported.

Sessions, a hardline opponent of illegal immigration into the United States, promised to “vigorously, effectively and immediately” prosecute people “who violate our border.”

He deflected a question about what should happen to 800,000 young immigrants brought to the country by their parents illegally, and whom President Barack Obama has protected from deportation for two years. Sessions, who has opposed comprehensive immigration reform, said, “We need to fix this immigration system,” something Congress has been unable to do.

The 70-year-old Sessions was an early supporter of Trump, the first senator to endorse his presidential bid at a time when political Washington thought the billionaire real estate mogul turned politician had no chance of winning the Republican presidential nomination, let alone the presidency over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Sessions voiced complaints during the lengthy campaign about Clinton’s use of a private email server and handling of classified material while she was secretary of state. But he said that if he is confirmed as the country’s top law enforcement official he would remove himself from any involvement in discussions about possible prosecution of her in connection with the emails or the charitable Clinton Foundation her family controls.

Sessions also said he considers Supreme Court decisions upholding abortion rights and same sex marriages as settled law, rulings some U.S. conservatives hope to eventually overturn if Trump wins approval for conservative court appointments during his four-year term in the White House.

On other issues, Sessions testified that he “has no reason to doubt” the conclusion by U.S. intelligence officials that Russia meddled in the presidential election by hacking into computers to help Trump win, voiced support for keeping open the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for suspected terrorists, and said he does not support a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. as Trump once suggested.

Sessions’ appointment has drawn opposition from at least two Democratic senators and civil rights advocates concerned he would weaken legal protections for immigrants, minorities and gays.

By: Ken Bredemeier

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