Trump’s pick for chief law officer ‘doesn’t support Muslim ban’

Donald Trump’s pick for his chief law officer said he does not support a ban on Muslims entering the United States as opponents targeted his Senate confirmation hearing to derail the incoming administration even before it is formed.
Mr Trump proposed a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants during the Republican primary campaign but shifted his rhetoric during the election to focus on halting immigration from countries linked to terrorism.
Jeff Sessions, Mr Trump’s pick for attorney general, reiterated the incoming president’s position of stronger vetting of potential terrorists at his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, but said: "I do not support the idea that Muslims should be denied entry to the United States."
Mr Sessions was also forced to deny allegations of racism during the hearing, which Democrats are targeting in the hope they can delay his confirmation, bogging down the new administration in weeks or months of procedural wrangling.
Two protesters wearing Ku Klux Klan hoods and gowns had to be removed from the hearing when they tried to disrupt proceedings.
During the questioning, Mr Sessions dismissed allegations of racism that have dogged him since he was blocked from becoming a judge under Ronald Reagan.
"The caricature of me in 1986 was not correct," he said. "I do not harbour the kind of animosity and race-based discrimination ideas that I was accused of. I did not."
Opponents have little hope of defeating his appointment, given Republican control of the Senate. But Matt K Lewis, author of Too Dumb to Fail: How the GOP Went from the Party of Reagan to the Party of Trump, said his opponents wanted to score a string of damaging headlines, raising embarrassing accusations of racism.
"He’s very important," he said. "This is the first hearing and if there were to be a setback it would be devastating in terms of momentum and getting off on the right foot."
This week marks the start of an intense period for Mr Trump as he puts together his government. On Wednesday he is due to address a news conference — his first in 167 days — when he will face questions about how he can remove himself from his extensive business interests.
As well as Mr Sessions, a slew of other administration picks face scrutiny during three days. They include Rex Tillerson, slated to become secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, for director of the CIA, and General James Mattis, as defence secretary.
Republicans are hoping they can hurry through the appointments before Mr Trump is sworn in as the 45th president next Friday.
Mr Sessions is the first test of the strategy and of the sort of opposition the new president will face in office.
The 70-year-old senator from Alabama was a crucial element in helping build Mr Trump’s candidacy. He was the first member of the Senate to back the outsider campaign, helping shape the immigration policies that dominated much of the election.
In 1986, the Senate Judicial Committee heard evidence that he called a black assistant US attorney "boy" and told him to be careful about how he spoke to "white folks". Mr Sessions denied the allegations but ultimately his appointment as a federal judge was blocked.
This time around, Diane Feinstein, a democratic senator, said the committee had received letters from 400 civil rights organisations protesting against the appointment.
"There is a deep fear about what a Trump administration will bring in many places. And this is the context in which we must consider Senator Sessions’ record and nomination," she said.
He also faced questions about whether his close relationship with Mr Trump meant he could uphold the law in an independent manner.
"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," he said in a prepared statement.
The hearing is expected to last two days and will also feature an unprecedented intervention by Cory Booker — one of three black senators — who said he would testify against Mr Sessions
It is believed to be the first time a sitting senator has offered evidence against another for a cabinet post.
Mr Booker said: "I do not take lightly the decision to testify against a Senate colleague. "But the immense powers of the attorney general combined with the deeply troubling views of this nominee is a call to conscience."
Mr Sessions, from Alabama, is known as one of the most conservative voices in the Senate. He has opposed bipartisan to reform the criminal justice system and immigration.
If confirmed, he would succeed Loretta Lynch as attorney general and take up a role with responsibilities for civil rights, criminal justice and environmental enforcement. That would put him at the forefront of several of Mr Trump’s major commitments, including building a wall with Mexico and deporting immigrants.

Source: The National