WATCH: Schumer Says Sessions Confirmation Turned His Stomach
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Senator Charles Schumer didn’t mince words on how the confirmation of Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general made him feel: physically ill.
“When Jeff Sessions was passed, it turned my stomach,” said Schumer during a February 8 appearance on the Rachel Maddow Show.
The Alabama Republican has faced accusations of being a racist and has been a longtime supporter of immigration reduction.
“He’s probably almost certainly the most anti-immigrant senator of the hundred. On civil rights and voting rights he’s probably one of the top three or four against these sacred rights,” Schumer continued.
Republicans know that President Donald Trump’s candidates are unfit for their roles, but are afraid to go against Trump, Schumer said: “He doesn’t belong there, and I think a lot of Republicans know it.”
The final vote was 52 senators in favor of confirming Sessions and 47 against. Democrat Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) crossed party lines and voted in favor of Sessions.
Contact Andrea Cantor at [email protected]
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
