National

Trump to Name Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III as New Attorney General


Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–November 18, 2016

By Mark Sumner

ABRIDGE, PA - OCTOBER 10: Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions pledges his commitment to Republican candidate for  President Donald J Trump before he speaks to supporters at a rally at Ambridge Area Senior High School on October 10, 2016 in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. Ambridge, Pennsylvania, named after the American Bridge Company, a steel fabricating plant that employed 60,000 workers is a traditionally Democratic stronghold, but is shifting Republican as a shrinking tax base and lost jobs having devastating economic effects on the former industrial community.  (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

As head of the Justice Department, the Attorney General is often called on to determine the course of action in critical cases of discrimination and inequity. Though there’s no official announcement to this point, it appears that for the Trump “Justice Department,” those decisions will be coming from Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, a man who was turned down for a positions as a federal judge due to his racist positions.

In testimony before the committee, former colleagues said that Mr. Sessions had referred to the N.A.A.C.P., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and other civil rights groups as “un-American” and “Communist-inspired.” An African-American federal prosecutor then, Thomas H. Figures, said Mr. Sessions had referred to him as “boy” and testified that Mr. Sessions said the Ku Klux Klan was fine “until I found out they smoked pot.” Mr. Sessions dismissed that remark as a joke.

Sessions didn’t even deny his remarks about the NAACP and other groups. However, Jefferson Beauregard the third was turned down for that district court position back in 1986, at a time when the Republican Party at least maintained a pretense that it was against racism. A Republican-controlled committee rejected Sessions over his racist remarks. Sessions has long considered his election as Senator a major finger in the face of civil rights groups and, like David Duke, he got on the Trump train early.

And as the first senator to endorse Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, he has a special status as an early supporter who became an important surrogate and close adviser.

While it may be difficult to determine what Sessions will do as AG, it’s easy enough to see he will not do.

Mr. Sessions was also accused of speaking disparagingly of the Voting Rights Act and the stringent oversight it placed on Southern states.

What are the positions of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III? He’s “very tough on crime”—unless that crime involves Donald Trump.

TWS: But beyond the language, would you characterize the behavior described in that

as sexual assault if that behavior actually took place?

SESSIONS: I don’t characterize that as sexual assault. I think that’s a stretch.

Other than giving the “grab away” signal, Sessions can be counted on for his attacks against Black Lives Matters, his insistence that it’s okay to institute a ban against Muslims because “millions of Americans support it,” and of course plenty of corn to feed the new Jim Crow laws that already proved so valuable in blocking black and immigrant votes in this election.

What does Sessions consider an actual “tough on crime position”? Something like this.

Donald Trump supported the death penalty for a group of kids who turned out to be innocent of the crime for which they were convicted … Sessions thinks that’s great.

There are Republicans in the Senate who are unhappy with Trump, but at least one of those Republicans seems more than happy enough to support Sessions “traditional” antebellum positions.

A spokesman for Mr. Sessions did not respond to a request for comment. But on Tuesday, Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who opposed Mr. Trump’s candidacy, enthusiastically endorsed Mr. Sessions for a major job in the Trump administration.

During the campaign, Sessions was a loyal source of rumor and innuendo for Trump, feeding into conspiracy theories like “Hillary Clinton is hiding a health problem.”

Sessions: All I can tell you is I’m not a doctor and I’m not diagnosing it. But she’s not even doing press conferences.

How good was Sessions in the pre-season? Good enough that Roger Stone urged Trump to select Sessions for his VP.

Jefferson Beauregard “Jeff” Sessions III has pushed for the Republican ideal of “judicial restraint” in the Senate, meaning that the Justice Department and courts should have a hands off attitude about bigotry and injustice.  As an attorney, Sessions once made a very specific wish about Civil Rights cases …

Mr. Sessions threw the file on a table, and remarked, ‘I wish I could decline on all of them,'” by which Figures said Sessions meant civil rights cases generally.

Now he’ll get his chance.

https://twitter.com/importantmeagan/status/799593281239863296

Source: http://dailykos.com


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