President-elect Donald Trump last week selected Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as his attorney general, a decision that civil rights groups have blasted due to Sessions’ history of racism.
Sessions, who was the first sitting senator to endorse Trump during his divisive campaign, is a known opponent of immigration reform as well as criminal justice reform two issues President Barack Obama has prioritized during his presidency.
He came to the defense of Trump’s proposed plan to ban Muslims from entering the country. In December he said Trump was “treading on dangerous ground” but added that it is “appropriate to begin to discuss.” (He made the remarks during a radio interview with Stephen Bannon, Breitbart News’ alt-right chairman who Trump recently appointed as his chief strategist and senior counselor.)
