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Speaker 1: You're listening the Bloomberg Law with June Grosso in New
Speaker 1: York and Greg's store here in our ninety nine point
Speaker 1: one Washington Studios. Donald Trump's selection of Senator Jeff Sessions
Speaker 1: of Alabama as his attorney general is provoking a storm
Speaker 1: of controversy. Sessions as a former U s Attorney and
Speaker 1: Alabama Attorney General. He's a hardliner on a legal immigration.
Speaker 1: He opposes efforts to reduce sentences for drug offenses, and
Speaker 1: he was one of the few senators to defend Donald
Speaker 1: Trump's campaign proposal for a complete shutdown of Muslims entering
Speaker 1: the country. He has joined Trump's call for a special
Speaker 1: prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton. But what makes Sessions especially
Speaker 1: contentious are the allegations of racism. Allegations serious enough that
Speaker 1: they derailed his nomination for a federal judge ship. In
Speaker 1: at that confirmation process, he acknowledged that he joked about
Speaker 1: the KKK by saying he thought the group was okay
Speaker 1: until he learned they smoked marijuana. A black prosecutor testified
Speaker 1: that Sessions called him boy, and Sessions was accused of
Speaker 1: calling the Double a CP and other civil rights groups
Speaker 1: un American. Here is Sessions defending himself at a Senate hearing.
Speaker 1: I am not a racist, I am not insensitive to blacks.
Speaker 1: I have supported civil rights activity in my state. I
Speaker 1: have done my job with integrity, equality and fairness for all.
Speaker 1: And announcing the appointment, Donald Trump said Sessions is a
Speaker 1: quote world class legal mind and greatly admired by legal
Speaker 1: scholars and virtually everyone who knows him. But Democratic Representative
Speaker 1: Luis Gutierre as of Illinois said, no senator has fought
Speaker 1: harder against the hopes and aspirations of Latinos, immigrants, and
Speaker 1: people of color than Senator Sessions. Is Jeff sentence Jeff
Speaker 1: Sessions fit to be Attorney General? And what would he
Speaker 1: do at the Justice Department. We're going to talk to
Speaker 1: two people with very different perspectives. First, Marge Baker, Vice
Speaker 1: President and People for the American Way, and a moment
Speaker 1: we'll talk with Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch. Marge uh,
Speaker 1: Let's hold on just for a second on on the
Speaker 1: some of those allegations about Jeff Sessions in terms of
Speaker 1: conventional qualifications it's clear that he has the understanding and
Speaker 1: the resume, you know, to be Attorney general. Right, that's
Speaker 1: not what it is. What's that issue here? Um? The
Speaker 1: person tasked with protecting the rights of all Americans of
Speaker 1: being the people's lawyers simply cannot be someone who has
Speaker 1: been and is continuing to be an arch foe of
Speaker 1: civil rights, as Session has. That's the bottom line here.
Speaker 1: This this, this Session is unfit to be the Attorney
Speaker 1: General United States. Unfit to be the people's lawyer. Um,
Speaker 1: as that position is frequently referred to. You ran through
Speaker 1: a number of elements of his history, Um, starting with
Speaker 1: there was a reason why he was rejected for his
Speaker 1: nomination to sit on the court, to sit on the
Speaker 1: sit on the court. I mean this, this, this man
Speaker 1: has been an archhow civil rights his whole life, and
Speaker 1: it isn't inconceivable that this person could sit as Attorney
Speaker 1: General United States. March. Explain how much of a platform
Speaker 1: the a G has to shape civil rights in this country. Well,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's enormous. I mean this is this is
Speaker 1: the agency of the administration that defends the rights of
Speaker 1: all Americans, enforces the law, but also defends the rights
Speaker 1: of all Americans to be free from discrimination, to be
Speaker 1: able to vote, um, to be able to escape the
Speaker 1: impact of hate and bigotry directed at them in their communities.
Speaker 1: This is someone who has to be a lawyer for
Speaker 1: all the people. The scope of the Justice Department is enormous.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not just the civil rights divisions, every
Speaker 1: aspect of the Justice Department. And you need somebody to
Speaker 1: make sure that those laws that you're that that we
Speaker 1: enforce are fairly enforced and and Jeff Sessions are simply
Speaker 1: not demonstrated a commitment to the interests and concerns of
Speaker 1: Justice US for all the people. Margin so far, I
Speaker 1: think it's fair to say that Senate Democrats, and of
Speaker 1: course it's a Senate that would have to confirm them,
Speaker 1: are are basically holding their fire. Are you concerned that
Speaker 1: that both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are going
Speaker 1: to be too deferential to somebody who is right now
Speaker 1: one of their colleagues. Well, um, we're we We absolutely
Speaker 1: want to see Democrats and response to Republicans UM evaluate
Speaker 1: this nomination as it should be, and we are going
Speaker 1: to do whatever we can to make sure, um uh,
Speaker 1: that that there is a really rigorous um examination of
Speaker 1: this nominee. We actually believe that the Senators should be
Speaker 1: calling for the nomination to be withdrawn. It's trust as
Speaker 1: a non starter. But if the hearings do go forward,
Speaker 1: were they have to be rigorous hearings and and we
Speaker 1: have seen statements from Democrats. But what I've seen also
Speaker 1: the statements from Democrats UM saying that they're going to
Speaker 1: make sure that this nominee is rigorously a value evaluate it.
Speaker 1: And this is not some This cannot be a sense
Speaker 1: of giving difference to somebody who's been a colleague. And
Speaker 1: this has got to be a serious examination of the
Speaker 1: person who is going to sit as the chief, as
Speaker 1: I said, as the people's lawyer. Okay, thank you so much, Marge.
Speaker 1: Marge Baker, vice president at People for the American Way.
Speaker 1: We want to turn out to Tom Fitton, who is
Speaker 1: president of Judicial Watch. That's a group that, among other things,
Speaker 1: played a leading role in compelling the US to find
Speaker 1: and release Hillary Clinton's emails. Um, Tom, thanks thanks for
Speaker 1: joining us. Uh, why do you think, despite everything that
Speaker 1: we've been talking about with Marge Baker, why do you
Speaker 1: think Jeff Sessions is fit to be attorney General. Well,
Speaker 1: I think he has not only the temperament to be
Speaker 1: attorney general, but he has a rebellious streak that would
Speaker 1: make him a perfect person for a place in the
Speaker 1: government that requires someone to be a little bit more
Speaker 1: independent than the difficult cathery official from the White House. Uh.
Speaker 1: You his wary o Republicans in the Senate by taking
Speaker 1: principle stands. And I think it pushed came to Chew,
Speaker 1: he'd you know, he'd royal the Trump administration if pushed
Speaker 1: came to Chew, and he thought one way one way
Speaker 1: was the appropriate way, despite the wishes of those who
Speaker 1: appointed him. And the Justice Department is in crisis. It's
Speaker 1: terribly politicized. It applies the law unevenly and unfairly. It
Speaker 1: does not equally apply to civil rights laws. It thinks
Speaker 1: the civil rights laws can't be enforced on behalf of
Speaker 1: anyone but minorities, which is not. Which is a racial
Speaker 1: approach to decision making there at the department. Uh, they've
Speaker 1: worked to protect the legal secrecy and the Obama administration
Speaker 1: work to protect corruption in the Abama administration by suppressing
Speaker 1: or not seriously investigation serious Uh seriously investigating? Uh really
Speaker 1: in your face allegations of criminal wrongdoing UH at the
Speaker 1: White House and other government agency, not to mention Mrs
Speaker 1: Clinton's fecies. So we need we need someone who's going
Speaker 1: to bring a fresh set of prosecure eyes UH to
Speaker 1: uh this Justice Department. You know, liberals, liberals think they
Speaker 1: could the justicist Department. Only liberals should work there, and
Speaker 1: they're going to destroy any conservative to the who there
Speaker 1: does there. Tom, Let's let's talk about Jeff Sessions though.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about how what he'll do with the Justice
Speaker 1: Department to shape civil rights in a completely different way
Speaker 1: from the way it's that you object to. That's very political. Well,
Speaker 1: the Justice of Hartment does not enforce the civil rights
Speaker 1: laws in a fair manner. There are areas of the
Speaker 1: law that it does enforce or other areas that refuses
Speaker 1: to enforce because it's politically inconvenient. It's been politically inconvenient.
Speaker 1: And what we need is a Justice Department that will
Speaker 1: enforce all the laws, which would be a radical reform
Speaker 1: and I think something that we that Senator Senator Sessions
Speaker 1: would want to do, and certainly we would encourage him
Speaker 1: to do. I mean, this is where I'm talking out.
Speaker 1: It's suing the Justice Department all the time, and would
Speaker 1: be nice to finally have someone there, and let's hope
Speaker 1: that he's this person who stands with us on the
Speaker 1: rule law as opposed to instructions. Stands you that's political, Well,
Speaker 1: what do you means political? We're asking that the law
Speaker 1: be enforced on transparency, on election integrity, that the civil
Speaker 1: rights laws be enforced across the board, and not in
Speaker 1: a politicized ideological manner. And if people don't agree with
Speaker 1: the people for American way and civil rights, it doesn't
Speaker 1: make you, uh, you know, someone that is ineligible for
Speaker 1: a public office. Time we have just about thirty seconds