Nov 08, 2018 · Mr. Sessions served as a United States Senator for Alabama from 1996 to 2016 where he focused his energies on maintaining a strong military, upholding the rule of law, limiting the role of government, and providing tax relief to stimulate economic growth and to empower Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money.
Matthew Whitaker | |
---|---|
Preceded by | Jeff Sessions |
Succeeded by | William Barr |
Chief of Staff to the United States Attorney General | |
In office September 22, 2017 – November 7, 2018 |
William Barr | |
---|---|
President | George H. W. Bush |
Preceded by | Donald B. Ayer |
Succeeded by | George J. Terwilliger III |
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel |
He was confirmed and sworn in as Attorney General in February 2017. In his confirmation hearings, Sessions stated under oath that he did not have contact with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign and that he was unaware of any contact between Trump campaign members and Russian officials.
Sessions was elected Attorney General of Alabama in November 1994, unseating incumbent Democrat Jimmy Evans with 57% of the vote. The harsh criticism he had received from Senator Edward Kennedy, who called him a "throw-back to a shameful era" and a "disgrace", was considered to have won him the support of Alabama conservatives.
On March 27, 2017, Sessions told reporters that sanctuary cities failing to comply with policies of the Trump administration would lose federal funding, and cited the shooting of Kathryn Steinle as an example of an illegal immigrant committing a heinous crime.
Trump would later state in an August 22, 2018 interview with Fox News' Ainsley Earhardt that the only reason he nominated Sessions was because Sessions was an original supporter during his presidential campaign. The nomination engendered support and opposition from various groups and individuals. He was introduced by Senator Susan Collins from Maine who said, "He's a decent individual with a strong commitment to the rule of law. He's a leader of integrity. I think the attacks against him are not well founded and are unfair." More than 1,400 law school professors wrote a letter urging the Senate to reject the nomination. A group of black pastors rallied in support of Sessions in advance of his confirmation hearing; his nomination was supported by Gerald A. Reynolds, an African American former chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Six NAACP activists, including NAACP President Cornell William Brooks, were arrested at a January 2017 sit-in protesting the nomination.
In 2013, Sessions sent a letter to National Endowment for the Humanities enquiring why the foundation funded projects that he deemed frivolous. He also criticized the foundation for distributing books related to Islam to hundreds of U.S. libraries, saying "Using taxpayer dollars to fund education program grant questions that are very indefinite or in an effort to seemingly use Federal funds on behalf of just one religion, does not on its face appear to be the appropriate means to establish confidence in the American people that NEH expenditures are wise."
Sessions and his wife Mary have three children and as of March 2020, ten grandchildren. The family attends a United Methodist church. Specifically, Jeff and Mary Sessions are members of the Ashland Place United Methodist Church in Mobile, Alabama; Jeff Sessions has taught Sunday school there.
In a May 2017 letter, Sessions personally asked congressional leaders to repeal the Rohrabacher–Farr amendment so that the Justice Department could prosecute providers of medical marijuana. The Rohrabacher–Farr amendment is a 2014 measure that bars the Justice Department from using federal funds to prevent states "from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana". Sessions wrote in the letter that "I believe it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the Department to fund particular prosecutions, particularly in the midst of an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime." John Hudak of the Brookings Institution criticized the letter, stating that it was a "scare tactic" that "should make everyone openly question whether candidate Trump's rhetoric and the White House's words on his support for medical marijuana was actually a lie to the American public on an issue that garners broad, bipartisan support."
Jeff Sessions, in full Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, (born December 24, 1946, Selma, Alabama, U.S.), American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. attorney general (2017–18) in the administration of Pres. Donald Trump. He previously represented Alabama in the U.S. Senate (1997–2017). Sessions grew up in Hybart, Alabama, where he was active ...
Sessions’s supporters, however, accused critics of “twisting” his record. He was ultimately confirmed, 52–47, in February. Shortly thereafter he resigned from the Senate and was sworn in as attorney general. In March 2017 Sessions asked for the resignation of 46 Obama-appointed U.S. district attorneys.
In March 2017 Sessions asked for the resignation of 46 Obama-appointed U.S. district attorneys. Though such dismissals were a common practice for new administrations, they tended to be staggered, and the en masse firing—especially of those who had previously been told that they would be retained—sparked criticism.
On social issues, Sessions notably opposed abortion and same-sex marriage. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now. During the 2016 presidential race, Sessions was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, who won the party’s nomination and ultimately the election.
Trump’s dissatisfaction led to growing speculation that Sessions would be fired, and, a day after the midterm elections in November 2018, the attorney general tendered his immediate resignation at the request of Trump. A year later Sessions announced that he was running for his old Senate seat.
His confirmation hearings began in January 2017 and proved highly contentious. Much of the opposition focused on his previous handling of racial issues, and some questioned his ability to protect civil rights. Sessions’s supporters, however, accused critics of “twisting” his record.
His campaign was hampered by vocal opposition from Trump, and in the Republican primary runoff in 2020, Sessions was easily defeated by Tommy Tuberville, a candidate endorsed by the president. Gregory Lewis McNamee The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Despite that, he was harshly criticized and called “throw-back to a shameful era” and “a disgrace”. Sessions subsequently handled the issue of school funding, but his work was found unconstitutional because of the differences between rich and white, and mostly black poor schools.
Sessions subsequently handled the issue of school funding, but his work was found unconstitutional because of the differences between rich and white, and mostly black poor schools.
Jeff began working as an assistant us attorney in 1975, then in 1981 President Reagan nominated him for the position of the US attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, a position he held for the next 12 years until under Bill Clinton’s presidency, he resigned. His office filed civil rights charges for the killing of Michael Donald in 1981 by two members of the Ku Klux Klan, and although Jeff did not prosecute the case, both of the murderers were convicted. In 1985, he prosecuted three African-American men for voter fraud which led to charges of selective prosecution of black voters. In the following year, the President Reagan nominated Jeff to serve on the position of the US District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, supported by Republican Alabama Senator Jeremiah Denton. However, this proposal fell through.
On June 13, 2017, Attorney General Sessions testified before a Senate Intelligence Committee, and said in his opening statement: "The suggestion that I participated in any collusion or that I was aware of any collusion with the Russian government to hurt this country, which I have served with honor for 35 years, or to undermine the integrity of our democratic process, is an appalling and detestable lie."
His nomination was rejected by a judiciary committee due to concerns over disturbing statements made by Sessions concerning race. He later earned a U.S. Senate seat in 1996, winning three more successive terms over the ensuing years. The first senatorial supporter of Donald Trump for president, Sessions was nominated for U.S. attorney general after Trump's electoral win. Following a wave of Democratic opposition and protests from civil and human rights organizations, Sessions was confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate in February 2017. After the midterm elections in November 2018, Sessions resigned at the request of President Trump.
Trump also openly wondered why Sessions wasn't investigating 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, for actions that included the Clinton Foundation's ties to the 2010 sale of a uranium company to a Russian nuclear agency. The calls to investigate Clinton were echoed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, who twice wrote to the DOJ to request the appointment of another special counsel for the matter.
In his own defense, Sessions told the committee: "I am not the Jeff Sessions my detractors have tried to create. I am not a racist."
During his confirmation hearing, Sessions defended his record and vehemently denied charges of racism. "This caricature of me from 1986 was not correct," Sessions said.
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III was born on December 24, 1946, in Selma, Alabama, the son of a general store owner, and grew up in the rural town of Hybart. Nicknamed "Buddy," he was very active in the Boy Scouts, and eventually became an Eagle Scout in 1964.
In late February 2016, Sessions became the first senator to officially endorse Donald Trump’s run for the U.S. presidency. After Trump won the electoral college and became the 45th U.S. president, he nominated Sessions to become attorney general.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions waits to speak at the Eighth Judicial District Conference, Aug. 17, 2018, in Des Moines, Iowa. Following Sessions' resignation, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Whitaker to recuse himself from the probe. "Given his previous comments advocating defunding and imposing limitations on ...
Sessions also sent more judges and prosecutors to the southern border to help with processing illegal border crossers. AP. In his resignation letter, Sessions described restoring and upholding the "rule of law" as his most important legacy as attorney general.
Whitaker in a statement called Sessions as a dedicated public servant and said he is committed to leading the Justice Department with the "highest ethical standards.". "It is a true honor that the President has confidence in my ability to lead the Department of Justice as Acting Attorney General. I am committed to leading a fair Department with ...
Sessions left the Justice Department Wednesday afternoon after meeting with staff. About 150 people, including many longtime career attorneys, clapped as he walked out, gave him a thumbs up, and shook hands.
The president's priorities and Sessions' mirrored each other. Both tough on immigration, the opioid crisis, and crime, both men have a pro-law enforcement perspective.
A DOJ spokeswoman said that Whitaker does not need to be sworn in and is therefore already the acting attorney general. Tensions developed between Trump and Sessions in March 2017, when Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein took over.
Trump repeatedly called on Sessions to end the Russia probe on Twitter and TV interviews .
Justice officials who refuse to cooperate with investigators, while in their job, are subject to and are almost always fired from their jobs – a firing carried out by the attorney general. Thus Sessions, by regulation and longstanding norms, was tasked with firing officials for the very thing he himself did.
Jeff Sessions was one of the most senior officials in the Trump administration who devised and implemented the family separation policy. Photograph: Dan Anderson/EPA
Former attorney general Jeff Sessions and other senior justice department officials impeded an internal departmental investigation into their role in implementing the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policy that separated thousands of children from their parents on the border, according to interviews and government records.
Jeff Sessions was one of the most senior officials in the Trump administration who devised and implemented the family separation policy. Photograph: Dan Anderson/EPA.
During his tenure, Sessions was considered one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate.
Sessions was an opponent of legal and illegal immigration during his time in Congress. He opposed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 and the bi-partisan Gang of Eig…
Sessions was born in Selma, Alabama, on December 24, 1946, the son of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, Jr., and the former Abbie Powe. Sessions, his father, and his grandfather were named after Jefferson Davis, a U.S. senator and president of the Confederate States of America, and P. G. T. Beauregard, a veteran of the Mexican-American War and a Confederate general who oversaw the Battle of Fort Sumter that commenced the American Civil War. His father owned a general st…
Sessions was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama beginning in 1975. In 1981, President Reagan nominated him to be the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama. The Senate confirmed him and he held that position for twelve years. In 1993, Sessions resigned his post after Democrat Bill Clinton was elected President of the United States.
In 1986, Reagan nominated Sessions to be a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. Sessions's judicial nomination was recommended and actively backed by Republican Alabama senator Jeremiah Denton. A substantial majority of the American Bar AssociationStanding Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which rates nominees to the federal bench, rated Sessions "qualified", with a minority voting tha…
Sessions was elected Attorney General of Alabama in November 1994, unseating incumbent Democrat Jimmy Evans with 57% of the vote. The harsh criticism he had received from Senator Ted Kennedy, who called him a "throw-back to a shameful era" and a "disgrace", was considered to have won him the support of Alabama conservatives.
In 1996, Sessions won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, after a runoff, and then defeated Democrat Roger Bedford 53%–46% in the November general election. He succeeded Howell Heflin (a Democrat), who had retired after 18 years in the Senate, making his victory a Republican pickup in the Senate.
Following the Columbine High School massacrein April 1999, Sessions took pa…
President-elect Trump announced on November 18, 2016, that he would nominate Sessions to be Attorney General of the United States. Trump would later state in an August 22, 2018 interview with Fox News' Ainsley Earhardtthat the only reason he nominated Sessions was because Sessions was an original supporter during his presidential campaign. The nomination engendered supp…