Senate confirms Trump attorney general pick Jeff Sessions

The US Senate has confirmed President Donald
Trump's nomination for attorney general, Alabama
Senator Jeff Sessions, by a vote of 52 to 47.
The confirmation follows a series of divisive
hearings during which Democrats attacked Mr
Sessions' record on civil rights.
Democrat Elizabeth Warren was silenced after
recalling historic allegations of racism against Mr
Sessions.

The Alabama senator's nomination was among Mr
Trump's most controversial.
The vote largely followed party lines, with just one
Democrat senator - Joe Manchin of West Virginia -
voting for Mr Sessions.
Mr Sessions' Republican colleagues in the
chamber applauded him as their majority carried
him over the line. He will now take charge of the
Justice Department and its 113,000 employees,
including 93 US attorneys.

Addressing the chamber after the vote, Mr
Sessions said: "There is no greater honour than to
represent the people of Alabama in the greatest
deliberative body in the world.

"I appreciate the full debate we've had and thank
those afterwards who found sufficient confidence to
cast their vote to confirm me as the next attorney
general.

"I fully understand the august responsibility of this
office."
But Mr Sessions added that "denigrating people
who don't agree with us is not good for our
politics".

During debates ahead of the vote, Ms Warren and
other Democratic senators recalled criticism of Mr
Sessions by Martin Luther King's widow, who
opposed his nomination as a federal judge in
1986, alleging he had intimidated black voters.

That nomination was rejected by a US Senate
panel amid concerns over allegedly racist
comments made by Mr Sessions, and remarks
which appeared to be sympathetic to white
supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan.

David Duke, the former leader of the the KKK,
welcomed the confirmation, writing on Twitter: "Mr
Trump's appointment of Bannon, Flynn and
Sessions are the first steps in the project of taking
America back."
Ms Warren, who was temporarily banned from the
chamber, wrote: "If Jeff Sessions makes even the
tiniest attempt to bring his racism, sexism &
bigotry into the Justice Department, he'll hear from
all of us."
At 70, Mr Sessions is the same age as Mr Trump
and was an early supporter of the president. Mr
Trump has lashed out on Twitter at Democrats
stalling his cabinet picks, including Mr Sessions,
who is only the sixth of Mr Trump's 15 nominees
to be confirmed.

The Alabama senator is widely seen as an
inspiration for Mr Trump's anti-immigration
policies, and his close ties to the president and
special advisor Steve Bannon have raised
concerns about his ability to be sufficiently
independent from the White House.

The confirmation follows a turbulent first fortnight
for Mr Trump, during which the president has
faced heavy criticism over his controversial travel
ban and a raid in Yemen which killed one US Navy
operative and a number of civilians, including
children.

SOURCE:BBC