Trump's pick

a dangerous, disastrous pick

Jason, Next week the Senate will hold confirmation hearings for Jeff Sessions, who is Trump's pick for attorney general. The rest of this email details just a fraction of the many reasons Sessions is a dangerous, disastrous pick for our nation's top law enforcement officer. I recommend you read the whole thing so that you can fully grasp the damage an Attorney General Sessions would do. But if you're in a hurry, click here to urge Sens. McCaskill and Blunt to speak out against Sessions' confirmation. Here we go ... In 1986 Congress determined that Jeff Sessions was too racist to serve as a federal judge. Hostility toward people of color, women, immigrants and the LGBTQ community have been a central theme of his long, disgraceful Senate career. He's tried time and again to block the federal government from stopping discrimination against these communities. If confirmed, Sessions would be the nation's most powerful law enforcement agent, with broad control over federal law enforcement and criminal prosecution across the country. He would have the power to change the Justice Department's priorities, impacting everything from civil rights and police reform to voting rights and protections for the LGBTQ community. Tell Sens. McCaskill and Blunt now: Jeff Sessions was too racist for the '80s and he's too racist now. His nomination must be blocked. The attorney general is charged with protecting the rights of everyone in America. At a time when hate crimes are skyrocketing, we can't appoint a leader who opposes hate-crime legislation. In the 1986 confirmation hearing that led to the rejection of Sessions as a federal judge, witnesses testified that he referred to a black attorney as “boy,” described the Voting Rights Act as “intrusive,” and attacked the NAACP and the ACLU as “un-American” for “forcing civil rights down the throats of people.”1 Witnesses also reported that he said that he thought the Ku Klux Klan was OK2 until he found out that some members smoked marijuana, referred to a white attorney who took on voting-rights cases as a “traitor to his race,” and faced allegations that he used the n-word to describe a Democratic official in Alabama.3 An Attorney General Sessions would be a nightmare for our fight against unchecked government surveillance. He’s repeatedly worked to block NSA privacy reforms, including the mild reforms put in place under the USA Freedom Act.4 And he sided with the FBI in its effort to force Apple to break the iPhone's encryption, and has pushed legislation that would force technology companies to turn over customers’ private information to law enforcement.5 Sessions is an old friend of Breitbart News, the site that mainstreamed white nationalism and has promoted racism, misogyny and other forms of hate.6 Sessions was one of the first supporters of Trump's proposed ban on Muslims entering the country.7 He's opposed nearly every immigration bill put forward in the last two decades that's included a path to citizenship. He opposes same-sex marriage as well as sexual relationships between same-sex partners.8 Confronted with Trump’s remarks about grabbing women by their genitals, Sessions said it would be a “stretch” to “characterize that as sexual assault.”9 And he voted against the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.10 Sessions must be stopped. Please contact Sens. McCaskill and Blunt now and demand they block Sessions’ confirmation. Thanks for all that you do— Sandy, Candace and the rest of the Free Press Action Fund team freepress.net P.S. Sen. Sessions is too hateful and dangerous to serve as attorney general. Urge the Senate to block his confirmation now. 1. “Sessions Dogged by Old Allegations of Racism,” CNN, Nov. 18, 2016: http://act.freepress.net/go/16617?t=7&akid=5979.9578237.ApMdla 2. “Sessions Dogged by Old Allegations of Racism,” CNN, Nov. 18, 2016: http://act.freepress.net/go/16617?t=9&akid=5979.9578237.ApMdla 3. “Will Jeff Sessions Roll Back Civil-Rights Protections?” The Atlantic, Nov. 18, 2016: http://act.freepress.net/go/16612?t=11&akid=5979.9578237.ApMdla 4. “Jeff Sessions’ Nomination as Attorney General Alarms Civil Libertarians,” Wired, Nov. 18, 2016: https://act.freepress.net/go/16620?t=13&akid=5979.9578237.ApMdla 5. “Jeff Sessions’ Nomination as Attorney General Alarms Civil Libertarians,” Wired, Nov. 18, 2016: https://act.freepress.net/go/16620?t=15&akid=5979.9578237.ApMdla 6. “Jeff Sessions’ Relationship With Breitbart, the Platform for the White-Nationalist Alt-Right, Should Be Disqualifying,” Huffington Post, Jan. 3, 2017: http://act.freepress.net/go/16614?t=17&akid=5979.9578237.ApMdla 7. “Sessions: Trump Travel Ban Could Include Egypt,” CNN, June 20, 2016: http://act.freepress.net/go/16613?t=19&akid=5979.9578237.ApMdla 8. “Jeff Sessions a ‘Deeply Disturbing’ Attorney General Pick, Says LGBTQ Rights Group,” NBC, Nov. 19, 2016: http://act.freepress.net/go/16619?t=21&akid=5979.9578237.ApMdla 9. “Jeff Sessions: Behavior Described by Trump in Tape Isn't Sexual Assault,” Weekly Standard, Oct. 10, 2016: http://act.freepress.net/go/16615?t=23&akid=5979.9578237.ApMdla 10. “U.S. Senate Roll Call Vote on 2013 Reauthorization of Violence Against Women Act”: http://act.freepress.net/go/16616?t=25&akid=5979.9578237.ApMdla

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