Difference of opinion on immigration legislation that weve put forward. Youve had different ideas. I have no doubt that as Attorney General, youll faithfully execute the office. I appreciate the answers that you have given today. Unanimous consent to submit a column written by our own Attorney General in arizona, Mark Burnovich for the hill. Without objection it will be included. Supporting your nomination. Let me talk to you about an aspect of immigration thats important in arizona. As you know, we have a large border with mexico. We have a program called Operation Streamline that has over the years been tremendously effective in cutting down recidivism in terms of border crossers. Its intended to reduce Border Crossing by expeditiously prosecuting those who enter the country illegally over a no
tolerance or Zero Tolerance policy. Its credited with being instrumental in achieving better Border Security specifically in the yuma sector along the western side of arizonas border with mexico. Nevertheless, in recent years, the u. S. Attorneys office for the district of arizona adopted a policy that he wanted prosecutions for those that cross but for, well, without Criminal History other than simply crossing the border. I have asked Attorney General Holder and Attorney General lynch as well as Secretary Johnson at Homeland Security on what is being done here, and i havent gotten a straight answer. No matter how many times i ask the question, so im looking forward to a little more candor here as Attorney General if you are confirmed what steps will you take to restore operation
streamline to a Zero Tolerance approach thats been so successful in arizona . A portion of arizonas border. Zoo thank you. Senator flank, i have enjoyed working with you, and i know the integrity with which you bring your views on the immigration system. Like you, i believe that streamline was very effective, and it was really a surprise that its been undermined and significantly. The reports i got initially some years ago, maybe a decade or so ago is it was dramatically effective. I would absolutely review that, and my inclination would be at least at this stage is it should be restored and made sure its lawful and effective, but i think it has great positive potential to improve legality at the border. Well, thank you. Its been effective at yuma,and
i can tell you theres concern there on the sheriffs office, Sheriffs Will Dumont and others concerned that were seeing an increase in Border Crossings simply because of cartels understand very well what where theres a Zero Tolerance policy and where there is not. Word spreads. We can quickly get to the is there any reason why we havent expanded this program to the tucson sector if its been successful elsewhere . I dont know what reason that might be. It seems to me that we should examine the successes and see if they cant be replicated throughout the border. All right. Well, thank you. Look forward to working with you on that. I appreciate that opportunity to work with you on that because i have long felt its the right direction for us to go. Thank you. We have a successful program, then its difficult to see it
scrapped and to see the progress thats been made in certain parts of the border done away with. Let me get to another subject here. Victims rights. This is an area of the law that you have shown particularly interest in over your time as a senator. I have with me letters of support for your nomination from various victims groups and advocates. The victims of crime and leniency. Victims and Friends United op ed by professors paul cassel and steve twist all in support of your nomination. I would ask that these documents be placed for the record. As Attorney General, what steps will you take to insure that Victims Rights are protected . Cannot forget Victims Rights. We have a victim witness legislation that creates within each United StatesAttorneys Office a victim Witness Coordinator and the job of that person is to make sure that concern of the victims are he d
prosecutors and Law Enforcement officers, but also the bureau of you will lead not only department of prosecutors and Law Enforcement officials, but also the bureau of prisons. Youll be responsible for 190,000 federal inmates currently in custody. This is an often overlooked part of the Attorney Generals role, but its important part of the position that youll be nominated for. I believe one of the highlights in your record in the senate is your leadership in passing the prison rape elimination act of 2003, it or pria, which passed both chambers without objection and was signed into law by george w. Bush. This was a bipartisan bill. You worked across the aisle with the late Senator Kennedy as well as with republican representative frank wolf, democrat representative bobby scott in the house. I have letters of support from antiprisonrate rape activists that i would also like to be part of the record without objection if i could. Thank you. The prison actually do get prosecuted was a real step forward. We do not need to Subject Prisoners to any more punishment than the law requires. Thank you. Just remaining seconds i have let me say theres another area that we have worked on and hopefully can continue to work on, and thats the area of duplicative doj grants. As you know, Department Awarded approximately 17 billion in grants over the years brrn oij reports, have all shown theres duplication and waste. Sometimes fraud and abuse. We continue to commit to work to root out this kind of duplicative action there. Well, i know you have had a history of being a staunch defender of the treasury and those that abuse it. I believe its the same way. Its the taxpayers money. Every dlaer thats extracted from an american sit zblin that
goes into the government needs to get to productive valuable activities. It is a cause of great concern. I will make it a priority of mine to make sure that the dollars we have are actually getting to the purposes theyre supposed to go for. Its one thing to say i did a great thing. I got more money for this good purpose, but did it really efficiently and effectively go there. Did it really make a positive difference . I think the Department Of Justice can utilize the Grant Programs to help valuable activities and it needs to guard against improper activities. Thank you, Senator Sessions. Well break for about 30 minutes and reconvene at 1 40. Senator comens would be next up, and he has indicated he will be here on time. Adjourn, recess for now. The Senate Judiciary committee now in recess. 30 minute lurchl we just heard from the chairman Chuck Grassley make that announcement. Hel hello. Im wolf blitzer. Im jake tapper. Its 1 00 p. M. Here in washington d. C. Thank you for joining us. Its been a very, very intriguing, important several hours, jake, that weve been listening to Jeff Sessions, the senator from alabama who has been nominated to become the Attorney General of the United States. I want to start off quickly and play this little clip. He announce reasonable doubt that if there were any Legal Proceedings to go against, the former democratic president ial candidate Hillary Clinton, he would recuse himself. In light of those comments that you made, some have expressed concern about whether you can approach the clinton matter impartially in both fact and appearance. How do you plan to address those concerns . I do believe that that could
place my objectivity in question. I have given that thought. I believe the proper thing for me to do would be to recuse myself from any questions involving those kind of investigations that involve secretary clinton that were raised during the campaign. Or could be otherwise connected to it. This country does not punish its political enemies, but this country insures that no one is bottom of the law. Very intriguing the way he said that. It was a bold moment. He said he would recuse himself. Some of the other things that he tried to make clear were that even if he opposed laws that had been passed, he would abide by them. Whatever his personal feelings, he thinks that samesex marriage is the law of the land. President trump has said and talked about how he would protect the rights of Lgbt Americans going forward. Roe v. Wade he said also is
staging little Mock Confirmation Hearings at the trump transition office. Weve got an excellent panel here thats going to help us better appreciate what we just heard. Associate editor of real clear politics, a. B. Stoddard. Justice correspondent pamela brown, april ryan, White House CorrespondentWashington Bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks, cnn Political Comme commentators chuck hyde and simone sanders. Pamela brown, you cover the Justice Department for us. Your immediate thoughts . First, when it comes to torture, he was asked about waterboarding, which, of course, we heard trump talk about on the trail saying he wanted to bring that back, and sessions did not mince words. He said its illegal. It is improper. That is the way the congress has voted. That presents an interesting situation there depending on what trump wants to do when he takes the white house and his top Law Enforcement officer views it that way. We talked about the muslim ban. Again, something that trump talked about on the trail. He says that he opposes that, and its clear that he is taking
i am not naive. I know the threat that our rising crime and addiction rates pose to the health and safety of our country. I know the threat of terrorism. I deeply understand the history of civil rights in our country and the horrendous impact that relentless and systemic discrimination and the denial of Voting Rights has had on our africanamerican brothers and sisters. I have witnessed it. That was in his opening statement. He clearly came prepared to try to diffuse what had hurt him so badly in 1986. Whats so interesting is that was initially not in his opening statements. Were told from a source that this morning he woke up, and he felt very compelled to confront what happened in 1986 with the failed judgeship. He felt like it was important to make it clear to the people and to the people there in that room that he is not a racist, that
this was a characterure of him and that it was false and so he added those comments and those comments about that back in this morning, wolf. Jeff, when you take a look at the bottom line, its very, very hard for a United States senator sitting colleague of Senator Sessions to come out against them, but some will. Some will, without a doubt, and i would not be surprised at the end of the day if this is maybe largely on party lines, but i think one of the biggest differences here is if he was not a sitting United States senator, this hearing would be entirely different. The proceedings would be different. Senator dianne feinstein, of course, the ranking democrat on the committee, pointed out that, you know, he is the candidate for Attorney General. Were not talking about his Senate Record here, but the reality here is that those strong relationships that he has with republicans and some democrats is going to play a key role in virtually all of this. They are giving him the benefit of the doubt. You saw Susan Collins introducing him and basically
saying what happened 30 years ago isnt as relevant as right now. Yes, he is going to have tough questions. More tomorrow probably than today. One other people are giving their sides of this, but he is a u. S. Senator, and that helps him immensely. Senator al franken, the one nonlawyer on the Senate Judiciary committee, basically accused Senator Sessions of inflating his procivil Rights Record, suggesting that desegregation School Desegregation cases that he had claimed to have been in charge of, that he first overstated how many there were and then basically he was taking credit for work that he really didnt have much to do with other than he was the u. S. Attorney or the Attorney General of the state of alabama. It was kind of a strong charge to make. Yes, it was interesting. Sessions actually did back down a bit. He said that he wasnt as involved, and their number wasnt as high as it was
originally stated, but that he didnt do anything wrong. I think whats interesting as franken went after his character, most Everyone Else was sticking to Policy Differences. Democrats have huge Policy Contrasts with Senator Sessions and the Department Of Justice will change radically from the Obama Department of justice. I think it was strong of him to so strongly defend himself against the 1986 event when he was passed over for the judgeship to defend himself against charges of being racially insensitive so that they can move on to Policy Differences and not be in so that he is not vulnerable to character attacks. I think democrats waste their time if they go after him on this. Theres so much on sentencing, on immigration, on Voting Rights and civil rights for them to actually question him about and create contrast with him about that they should probably stay away from the issues of 30 years ago. You saw just as jeff was saying, you saw the senators just in
such a defer he shall crouch, they would the democrats would start by saying, well, we talked about this in our meeting together. Ill just throw that question out there first. He had done a great job of talking them through these issues long before the lights were on. Stro i dont think he is getting dick durbins vote. He made it clear that the casm between the two when it came to immigration reform, specifically what you do with the socalled dreamers, the 800,000 people brought here illegally when they were children through the no fault of their own, durbin wants them to be given citizenship ultimately, and sessions, it sounded like, has a fairly hard Line Position on it. It shows how well prepared he
is, and its not just in trump tower where theyve been practicing for this. Its in the senate buildings. Its also at the Republican National committee, private organizations like america rising. They are all preparing not just Jeff Sessions for this, but a team to move his nomination forward. Democrats are obviously doing the same on the opposite side. What were seeing is the tip of the iceberg on this. It looked as if he was prepared anticipating almost every question that came up where. He was anticipating every question, but the issue is he is giving answers, but theres more to get into the weeds about. Particularly when it came to issues of Voting Rights. 30 years ago does matter where, to hear some people in congress, in and some senators wanting to testify against him about things that he said that naacp is unamerican, that is a real issue. He denies that. He denies it and he said he abhors the kkk. He said he does abhor the kkk. He said that. He did put to death under his
watch leader of the kkk. Right. Now, lets go into this piece. The Voting Rights piece, which is interesting. His state right now is in the middle of this Voting Rights issue. Many of the alabama Motor Vehicle offices were moved out of urban areas. People had to go to drivers licenses to get to the polls. Here he is saying, oh, he plooefz in voter id, and then they just came up with an agreement with the Department Of Transportation to fix this problem, and this is the devil is in the details. This is the first time in 15 years that people have not seen the full enforcement of the Voting Rights act, and ther