Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee mostly defended Sessions, expressing confidence that he would be confirmed, while Democrats used the opportunity to attack his voting record.
The Alabama Republican, who has served in the Senate for 20 years, was even asked a question about the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape that surfaced in October in which President-elect Donald Trump made lewd comments about women.
“Is grabbing a woman by her genitals, without consent, is that sexual assault?” Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, asked Sessions.
“Clearly it would be,” Sessions said.
During his confirmation hearing for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions said he would recuse himself from an investigation into Hillary Clinton’…
Sessions also announced during the hearing that he would recuse himself from any investigations involving Hillary Clinton and her use of private email servers as secretary of state.
“I believe the proper thing for me to do, would be to recuse myself from any questions involving those kind of investigations that involve Secretary Clinton and that were raised during the campaign or to be otherwise connected to it,” Sessions told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Mr. Trump said during the second general-election debate between the president-elect and Clinton that he would instruct his attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor to look into her situation.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, asked if Sessions would recuse himself as attorney general if the probe into Russian interference in the election leads to involvement by the Trump campaign or associates of the president-elect.
“My recusal issue was because I had made public comments about it that could be construed on the final judgment on it,” Sessions said about his decision to recuse himself from Clinton investigations. “I will review it and try to do the right thing,” Sessions promised. Durbin said that it would be “an obvious case for special prosecutor.”
During the day-long hearing, which is scheduled to continue Wednesday, Sessions rejected allegations that he has failed to protect the voting rights of black people and that he has praised the Ku Klux Klan.
“These are damnably false charges,” Sessions said. “I abhor the Klan and what it represents and its hateful ideology.”
Sessions said during the hearing, which was interrupted by sporadic outbursts from protesters, that he “never declared the NAACP was un-American or that a civil rights attorney “was a disgrace to his race.”
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general took some difficult questions during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill. Sessions…
“I deeply understand the history of civil rights in our country 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. We must continue to move forward and never back. I understand the demands for justice and fairness made by our LGBT community. I will ensure that the statutes protecting their civil rights and their safety are fully enforced,” he said in his opening statement.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, asked Sessions to explain his previous comment in which he described the Voting Rights Act as an “intrusive piece of legislation” and asked him how he’ll actively enforce the remaining pieces of the law such as the one that prohibits voting practices that discriminate on the basis of race.
“The Voting Rights Act passed in 1965 was one of the most important acts to deal with racial difficulties that we face,” Sessions said. “It changed the whole course of history particularly in the south.” Sessions was asked about states’ voter ID laws and he said, “I think voter ID laws, properly drafted, are okay.”
Leahy, the former top Democrat on the panel, asked Sessions if he agrees with Mr. Trump’s original plan to ban Muslims from entering the U. S.
“I have no belief and I do not support the idea that Muslims, as a religious group, should be denied admission to the United States,” Sessions said.
Senator Jeff Sessions told the Judiciary Committee that he believes Muslim should not be banned from the United States.
Sessions said that Mr. Trump has since made clear that he believes that the focus should be on people who are coming from countries with histories of terrorism. At the same time, Sessions suggested that he believes that religious beliefs, that embrace wanting to harm the U. S., can be taken into consideration in the vetting process and can be grounds to deny someone entry into the country.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, later asked Sessions what he would characterize as an extreme view in relation to enhanced vetting.
“First of all, the vetting process is in the hands of the State Department and the consular offices,” Sessions said, adding that the approach that’s “preferable” is focusing on people who are based in areas “where we have an unusually high risk of terrorists coming in.”
Democrats repeatedly pointed out that Sessions has voted against bans against torture and grilled him on what he would do as attorney general if Mr. Trump tried to bring back waterboarding or other enhanced interrogation techniques.
Attorney general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions agrees that it is illegal for the military to waterboard or use any form of torture.
“There was a dispute about that when we had the torture definition in our law,” Sessions said when asked if he believes whether waterboarding constitutes torture.
“The Department of Justice memorandum concluded it did not necessarily prohibit that. But Congress has taken an action now that makes it absolute improper and illegal to use waterboarding or any other form of torture in the United States by our military and by all our other departments and agencies.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, asked Sessions whether he plans to advise Mr. Trump to reverse President Obama’s 2012 execution action that created DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, that has deferred deportations for hundreds of thousands of people who came to the U. S. illegally as children.
“It would certainly be constitutional, I believe, to end that order,” Sessions said. “I think would have no objection to a decision to abandon that order because it is very questionable, in my opinion, constitutionally.”
Asked what should happen to 800,000 kids who have come out of the shadows, Sessions didn’t directly answer that question except that Congress should work with the administration to pass immigration reform. Durbin later said that Sessions “opposed the only bipartisan effort that we’ve had on the Senate floor in modern memory.”
Sessions was asked if he believes that the Russians were behind the cyberattacks during the 2016 election.
“I have done no research into that. I just know what the media has said about it,” said Sessions, who was also asked if he has any reason to doubt the accuracy of the conclusion of the U. S. intelligence community that Russia used cyberattacks to influence the 2016 election.
“I have no reason to doubt that and have no evidence to indicate otherwise,” he said.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, asked if the Justice Department and FBI will be allowed to continue investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election even if it leads to the Trump campaign, the president-elect’s interests and associates.
“If there are laws violated, and it can be prosecuted, of course you have to handle that in an appropriate way,” Sessions said, adding that he believes it’s appropriate for “a nation to retaliate against those actions” like cyberattacks involving the election.
Several Democrats expressed concern with Sessions’ previous comments about the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade to protect a woman’s right to choose in which he said the ruling was “one of the worst, colossally erroneous Supreme Court decisions of all time.” Sessions said he still holds that view, but that he would follow the law.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, President-elect Donald Trump’s selection for attorney general, says he has seen racial discrimination firsthand, and discusse…
“It is,” Sessions said. “I believe it violated the Constitution and really attempted to set policy and not follow law. It is the law of the land. It is been so established and settled for a long time and it deserves respect and I would respect it and follow it.”
While Sessions initially stated during the hearing that he has supported the Violence Against Women Act, including in 2000, in 2005 and a proposal by Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, he was called out for opposing the 2013 reauthorization measure that is now law. Leahy asked why he voted against expanding protections for LGBTQ victims, immigrants and tribal victims of domestic violence in the 2013 reauthorization, which he said passed “overwhelmingly” in both the Senate and GOP-controlled House at the time.
Sessions said that there was a “concerning provision” that gave tribal courts jurisdiction over non-tribal members.
In his opening statement, Sessions expressed concern about the rise of violence and an escalating murder rate.
He stressed the importance of the Justice Department serving as a “unifying force” for improving relations between the police and communities, especially in minority communities and he said he would hold law enforcement accountable when necessary.
“Make no mistake, positive relations and great communication between the people and police are essential for any good police department. And when police fail in their duties, they must be held accountable,” he said.

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Barack Obama is returning to Chicago for one final speech – a parting plea to Americans not to lose faith in their future, no matter what they think about their next president.
His final address as president, in the city where he launched his political career, is his last chance to try to define what his presidency meant for America.
In a Facebook post previewing his speech, which will be delivered in front of thousands in McCormick Place, Mr Obama said: “We’ve run our leg in a long relay of progress, knowing that our work will always be unfinished.
“And we’ve reaffirmed the belief that we can make a difference with our own hands, in our own time. ”
Mr Obama has said he is leaving his eight years in office with two basic lessons: that Americans are fundamentally good, and that change can happen.
“The system will respond to ordinary people coming together to try to move the country in a better direction,” he said ahead of the speech.
During the election, Mr Obama and the Democrats warned against a Donald Trump presidency in apocalyptic terms.
His daunting task now – the closing act of his political career – is to explain how his vision of America remains relevant and achievable for Democrats in the Trump era.
Mr Obama was determined not to simply recite a history of the last eight years, and directed his team to craft an address that would feel “bigger than politics” and speak to all Americans – including those who voted for Mr Trump.
His chief speechwriter Cody Keenan started writing last month while Mr Obama was on holiday in Hawaii, handing him the first draft on the flight home.
By late Monday, Mr Obama was immersed in a fourth draft, with Mr Keenan thought to have stayed at the White House all night to help perfect the final message.
Ahead of his speech, Mr Obama acknowledged that the chaos of Washington makes it easy to lose sight of the role American citizens play in democracy.
He said that while he leaves office with his work unfinished, he believes his administration made the US “a stronger place for the generations that will follow ours”.
First Lady Michelle Obama and vice-president Joe Biden will also attend the speech.
For Mr Obama, it will be his final trip aboard Air Force One as president.
Though he and his party were dealt a devastating blow in November’s election, Mr Obama leaves office as a relatively popular president viewed favourably by 57% of Americans, according to an Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research poll released the day before his speech.
That puts him on a par with former president Bill Clinton’s popularity as he left office.
Yet Americans remain deeply divided over Mr Obama’s legacy, with fewer than half saying they are better off eight years later – or that Mr Obama brought the country together.
Two in three Americans said he did not keep his promises, though most of those said he had tried to do so but could not.
AP

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Donald Trump’s pick to be the next U. S. attorney general vehemently disputed “amazing” allegations that he harbors racial bias, insisting to a Senate panel today that decades-old accusations suggesting he supported the Ku Klux Klan are absolutely false and that the nation “can never go back” to its dark days of legal discrimination.
“I abhor the Klan and what it represents and its hateful ideology,” Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., told the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is holding confirmation hearings this week to consider his nomination to lead the Justice Department.
He walked into the Senate hearing room this morning to shouting from some protesters dressed in Ku Klux Klan costumes and others holding signs saying, “Stand against xenophobia” and “Love trumps hate. ” Sessions seemed unfazed, and many in the room cheered as the protesters were removed. His testimony was interrupted by other protesters several times today. At least two other people interrupted his opening remarks, one shouting, “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA. “
In his statement to the committee this morning, he vowed to tell Trump “no” when necessary. Sessions defended law enforcement officers across the country who have been “unfairly maligned” in recent years, and he insisted he understands the struggle for justice by “our African-American brothers and sisters” and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Hours into today’s hearing, he faced tough questions over his record on civil rights and his plan for cooling tensions between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve.
Sessions, 70, has faced significant criticism from top Democrats and some civil rights groups over decades-old allegations that he made racist remarks when he was a U. S. attorney in Alabama. Today he dismissed the allegations as outright false or taken out of context.
“I hope my tenure in this body shows you that the caricature of me wasn’t accurate,” Sessions told senators. “It wasn’t accurate then, and it’s not accurate now. “
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Sessions’ 20 years in the Senate mean “we know him well. “
“He is a man of honor and integrity, dedicated to the faithful and fair enforcement of the law, who knows well and deeply respects the Department of Justice and its role,” Grassley said in his opening remarks, noting that as U. S. attorney in Alabama during the 1980s, Sessions “oversaw the investigation of Klansman Francis Hays for the brutal abduction and murder of a black teenager, Michael Donald. “
During what may have been the most uncomfortable moments for Sessions during the first half of the day, Al Franken, D-Minn., pressed Sessions on whether he has “misrepresented” or “inflated” his role in prosecuting civil rights cases and standing up for minorities when U. S. attorney. In particular, Franken took aim at Sessions’ claim that he “personally handled” several cases, suggesting the extent of his involvement in those cases may have been just signing charging documents.
Sessions fired back, saying he not only signed the documents but also “provided assistance and guidance” to attorneys working on the cases and “attempted to be as effective as I could be in helping them be successful in these historic cases. “
He added that he “had an open door policy with them and cooperated with them on these cases. “
Sessions said in his opening remarks, “I understand the demands for justice and fairness made by the LGBT community. “
But the top Democrat on the committee, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called Sessions’ record “extremely conservative” and emphasized that the next attorney general must enforce the law “equally for all Americans,” not advocate for his own beliefs.
She noted that he has taken what she called “deeply concerning” stances, including support for keeping people out of the United States based on their religion, support for “illegal” waterboarding of terrorism suspects and opposition to LGBT rights legislation.
Other critics have also pointed to Sessions’ dismay at the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry and his opposition to the Matthew Shepard Act, which expanded the definition of hate crimes to include attacks on people because of their sexual orientation, gender or disability.
Asked during today’s hearing whether he believes the issue of same-sex marriage is settled — now that the Supreme Court has ruled that gay and lesbian couples may marry nationwide — Sessions said he will “follow that decision. ” He explained that he opposed the Matthew Shepard Act out of “a concern that it appeared that these cases were being prosecuted effectively in state court” but said that since it has become law and “the Congress has spoken, you can be sure that I will enforce it. “
During her opening remarks, Feinstein cited Trump’s promise on the campaign trail that his attorney general would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton.
“That’s not what an attorney general does,” Feinstein said. “The attorney general does not investigate or prosecute at the direction of the president. “
Sessions vowed today that as attorney general, he would recuse himself from any matters related to Clinton.
On the campaign trail, he spoke out against Clinton over her use of a private email server as secretary of state, which became the subject of an FBI criminal investigation.
Sessions noted that the presidential campaign was “contentious” and that he made several comments about Clinton’s possible criminal culpability.
“I do believe that could place my objectivity in question … I think the proper thing would be to recuse myself,” he told the other senators.
Much of Sessions’ opening remarks today focused on the “heroin epidemic” across America and the jump in violent crime in certain U. S. cities, including a record-setting number of murders and shootings in Chicago last year.
“These trends cannot continue,” he said. “It is a fundamental civil right to be safe in your home and your community… It will be my priority to confront these crises vigorously, effectively and immediately. “
Sessions vowed to support state and local law enforcement across the country, calling recent attacks on police in the line of duty “a wake-up call” and recognizing the officers killed in the line of duty in Florida Monday. The alleged murderer of one officer is still the target of an extensive manhunt.
“That is the kind of thing that too often happens,” he said, adding that “there is virtually no defense” for assaulting a police officer and that recent criticism of law enforcement is making matters worse.
“In the last several years, law enforcement as a whole has been unfairly maligned and blamed for the actions of a few bad actors and for allegations about police that were not true,” he said. “I do believe that we are failing to appreciate police officers who place their lives at risk… We need to be sure that when we criticize law officers, it is narrowly focused on the right basis for criticism. And to smear whole departments places those officers at greater risk. “
Many Democrats have expressed concern over testimony during Sessions’ confirmation hearing for a federal judgeship in 1986, when some accused Sessions of calling a white civil rights lawyer a “disgrace to his race” and dubbing some actions by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People “un-American. “
“After four days of hearings and extensive testimony, Sessions’ nomination was rejected by a Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. He was too extreme for Republicans in 1986,” Sen. Patrick Leahy , D-Vt., wrote in The Boston Globe on Sunday. “Now that he is nominated to be attorney general, we will see if the same person is still too extreme for Republicans. “
Leahy, until recently the top Democrat on the committee, said, “Sessions has repeatedly stood in the way of efforts to promote and protect Americans’ civil rights. “
But Sessions today said, “This caricature of me in 1986 was not correct. I conducted myself honorably and properly at that time,” and “I did not harbor the animosities… that I was accused of. I did not. “
Sessions later described how, growing up in the South, he saw discrimination firsthand and had “no doubt” that it hurt many other Southerners.
“I know that was wrong. I know we need to do better. We can never go back,” he said.
“I deeply understand 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,” he insisted.
He promised that politics will play no role in his Justice Department .
“The Office of the Attorney General of the United States is not a political position, and anyone who holds it must have total fidelity to the laws and the Constitution of the United States,” Sessions said today.
Asked today whether he believed the U. S. intelligence community’s unanimous conclusion that the Russian government was behind a series of cyberattacks aimed at affecting the presidential election, Sessions said, “I have no reason to doubt that, and have no reason to believe otherwise. ” He said that he is “sure” the FBI’s conclusions blaming Russia were “honorably reached” and that “it is appropriate for a nation to retaliate against” government-sponsored hacks.
But he said he knows only “what the media says about” the pre-election attacks, and he indicated he was holding off on a final opinion until he is briefed by the FBI.
Later in the hearing, Sheldon Whitehouse, R-R. I., asked Sessions whether he would allow the Justice Department and FBI to continue investigating Russian connections, even if those probes lead to the Trump campaign or Trump associates. Sessions said, “If there are laws violated and can be prosecuted, you’ll have to handle that in an appropriate way. “
But, he added, “the problem may turn out to be” that, like the huge hack of the U. S. Office of Personnel Management carried out on behalf of the Chinese government, such matters may be best handled at the political level.

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Here is a timeline of the shooting at the historic Emanuel AME Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina:
JUNE 17, 2015
8:06 p.m.
Dylann Roof arrives at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in a dark Hyundai sedan. He enters the church through a side entrance and spends about an hour with parishioners attending a Bible study.
About 9 p.m.
The gunman pulls out a concealed handgun and begins shooting, killing nine parishioners. A police document says he stood over a witness and made a racially inflammatory remark.
9:33 p.m.
Charleston police post a tweet saying they are responding to a shooting at the church, an hour later describing the suspect as a white male, approximately 21 years old, slender build and wearing a gray sweat shirt, blue jeans, Timberland boots and clean shaven.
JUNE 18, 2015
Before 1 a.m., Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley confirms that nine people are dead in a shooting at the church. State Sen. Clementa Pinckney, who was pastor of the church, was among the people killed.
Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen says the FBI will be involved in the investigation and that police consider the shooting a hate crime.
President Barack Obama expresses anger, sadness and heartache at the church shooting that left nine dead. He says it shows the need for a national reckoning on gun violence in America.
The names of those killed are released. They are: Pinckney 41; Cynthia Hurd, 54; Tywanza Sanders, 26; Sharonda Singleton, 45; Myra Thompson, 59; Ethel Lance, 70; Susie Jackson, 87; the Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; and DePayne Doctor, 49.
A friend of Roof’s, Joey Meek, says Roof had told him recently that black people were taking over the world and that something needed to be done for the white race.
JUNE 19, 2015
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says the gunman in the Emanuel AME shootings should get the death penalty.
The head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People calls the slayings an act of “racial terrorism” and says the Confederate flag flying on the South Carolina Capitol grounds in Columbia needs to come down.
Roof makes his first court appearance, with victims’ relatives making tearful statements, offering him forgiveness.
JULY 10, 2015
South Carolina permanently lowers the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds where it has flown atop the dome or on the grounds for five decades. After five years of saying it was a settled issue, Republican Gov. Nikki Haley pushed for the swift removal of the flag after the church shootings, and the Legislature agreed.
SEPT. 3, 2015
State prosecutor Scarlett Wilson announces she will seek the death penalty against Roof for nine counts of murder, calling it the ultimate crime that deserves the ultimate punishment. A date has not been set for that trial.
SEPT. 17, 2015
Roof’s friend Joey Meek is arrested on a charge he lied to federal investigators. An indictment said Meek told an FBI agent he didn’t know specifics of Roof’s plans when he really did. In April, he pleads guilty. He does not testify at Roof’s trial and is awaiting sentencing.
MAY 24, 2016
U. S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announces federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty.
AUG. 4, 2016
A black inmate chases down Roof as he goes to the shower at the Charleston County jail and punches him several times. Roof has bruises on his face and back, but decides not to press charges.
NOV. 25, 2016
U. S. District Judge Richard Gergel rules Roof is competent to stand trial. Roof’s lawyers asked for what turned into a two-day hearing after he told them he wanted to be his own lawyer.
DEC. 15, 2016
Federal jury finds Roof guilty on all 33 counts, including hate crimes and obstruction of religion.
JAN. 2, 2017
Judge holds a second, closed-door competency hearing for Roof, over objection from several media outlets including The Associated Press. After the hearing, Gergel rules Roof is competent both to stand trial for sentencing and to represent himself.
JAN. 4, 2017
Jurors return to Charleston’s federal courthouse, where Roof’s sentencing trial begins with opening statements from prosecutors and Roof himself, who uses his time to briefly tell the jury he has no psychological problems and asks them to forget what they’ve previously heard from his lawyers. Over the next four days, prosecutors call more than two dozen witnesses, most of whom are relatives of the slain who give emotional testimony.
JAN. 10, 2017
Jurors deliberate Roof’s fate for about three hours before returning a verdict of death.

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