A Democratic lawmaker is defending Sen. Jeff Sessions’ (R-AL) controversial nomination as attorney general in the incoming administration because he has never personally heard the Republican senator espouse racist views.
In an interview with No Labels Radio on Saturday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) vowed to vote to confirm Sessions because he has never been given “any indication that Jeff is a bigot or racist or prejudiced.”
“Never once, never once I’ve had any indication that Jeff is a bigot or racist or prejudiced — I’ve never heard that,” Manchin said in the radio interview with hosts former Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-UT) and former Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA).
“Never seen that from Jeff, so I can only judge Jeff on what I know about him,” Manchin explained. “Now they’re telling me that 30 years ago this and that. I’m sure he will have to answer to that. But the bottom line is that I’m going to support Jeff Sessions and I will vote for Jeff Sessions and I think that President-Elect Donald Trump should have the opportunity to put his team together. He’ll be judged on their performance.”
“People are reaching back and trying to continue to divide and further separate us — that’s what they hold onto. I can only tell you how I know Jeff and these people, but even if I didn’t, I would say you have to give the President-elect that opportunity,” Manchin added. “I know when Jon [Huntsman] and I as governors, [we had] to accept the people put before you and judge us on our performance and how our administration performs. If that person proves to be the person you thought they would be, I can guarantee you there will be an open and thorough process and I will have to remove that person. But until then, my judgment is that I want to put this person in this place because I think they best fit and they’ll work with me the best.”
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Manchin may judge Sessions based exclusively on their personal interactions, but the Republican senator has been dogged by multiple accounts of racism and has actively tried to roll back rights for the immigrant, people of color, and LGBTQ communities.
In 1981, Sessions allegedly used a derogatory slur to talk about a black county commissioner in Mobile at the time that he was a Republican party official and federal prosecutor. He denied using the slur when confronted during Senate hearings for his “ill-fated nomination” by President Ronald Reagan for a federal judgeship in 1986. The Republican senator has also been accused of calling a black assistant U.S. district attorney as “boy,” said that the NAACP and ACLU were “anti-American” and “communist inspired,” and allegedly suggested that a white attorney with black clients was a “race traitor.”
More recently, Sessions criticized the Obama administration for showing leniency towards nonviolent drug offenders, saying that “good people don’t smoke marijuana.” In a 30-page memo opposing House Republican-led efforts to pass immigration reform in 2014, Sessions said that any kind of bill would “an extraordinary act of self-sabotage.” For over a decade, he targeted civil rights workers working to register elderly black voters and has recently criticized the Voting Rights Act as a “piece of intrusive legislation.”
Sessions will need a simple majority, or 51 people, in the Senate to be confirmed as attorney general, so the moderate Democrat’s vote would almost certainly help ensure the confirmation. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), a moderate Republican, has also expressed support for Sessions.
Manchin, who is a part of a ten-member Democratic leadership team led by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), is up for reelection in 2018 in a state that went for Trump during the general election and has voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 2000. Manchin has also slammed party leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) for being vocally critical against Donald Trump.