U.S. Senate Confirms Sessions as Attorney General with Narrow Vote
The U.S. Senate, controlled by Republicans, has confirmed Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General with a narrow margin of 52 votes in favor and 47 against.
Senator Jeff Sessions’ confirmation came after a series of contentious hearings in which Democrats attacked his record on civil rights.
In one of the most controversial developments in the process, Republicans on Tuesday prevented Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren from continuing her remarks, accusing her of attacking Senator Sessions’ character.
Warren was reading a letter from the wife of Martin Luther King Jr., which was submitted in 1986 in opposition to Sessions’ nomination for a federal judicial position.
The widow of the late civil rights leader had accused Sessions of attempting to intimidate Black voters in that letter. Sessions was the attorney for Alabama at the time.
Sessions was nominated for a federal judicial position in 1986 during Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
However, the Senate blocked his nomination that year after testimony from some who said Sessions had made racist statements or held racist views.
Additionally, that year, some of Sessions’ remarks were reportedly interpreted as sympathetic to the racist group the Ku Klux Klan.
Sessions has an extensive record of service in legal positions in the conservative Southern state of Alabama.
He has firmly rejected any allegations of racist tendencies.
During his confirmation hearings, he said: “I abhor the Ku Klux Klan, what it represents, and its hateful ideology.”
He said that as an Alabamian from the South, he had witnessed firsthand the powerful forces of racial discrimination and their impact on the lives of millions of Americans.
Senator Sessions condemned that past and pledged to work to protect the freedom and equality of all citizens of the country.
The vote on Wednesday followed party lines, with only one Democratic senator—Joe Manchin of West Virginia—breaking ranks to support Sessions.
Sessions, who strongly supported Donald Trump during the election campaign unlike many of his Republican colleagues, will now lead the Department of Justice, which has 113,000 employees and 93 prosecutors.
Expressing satisfaction with the confirmation of his nomination, Sessions said: “I believe the discussions that took place in the Senate during this process are important, and I am grateful to those who had sufficient confidence in me to vote in favor of my nomination as Attorney General.”
He also said “I am fully aware of the enormous responsibilities of this position,” but added that “attacking the reputation of those who disagree with us is not good for politics.”
The confirmation process for members of Donald Trump’s cabinet, who was sworn in on January 20, has moved slowly.
Trump previously criticized Democrats in a tweet for blocking the quick confirmation of his cabinet members. Sessions is the sixth cabinet member whose qualification is being confirmed out of 15 cabinet members.
Sessions, like Donald Trump, is 70 years old and shares much in common with Trump’s immigration policies.
Source: BBC
