Article snippet: In a closed-door speech to a right-wing legal advocacy group, Attorney General Department of Justice appears to have released to the conservative website The Federalist on Thursday. Earlier this week, Sessions spoke to the Alliance Defending Freedom, which was designated an “anti-LGBT hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2016, at their Summit on Religious Liberty in Dana Point, California. The event was closed to reporters, and both the Department of Justice and the Alliance Defending Freedom declined to provide a copy of Sessions’ remarks to ABC News. The Department of Justice did not respond to ABC News’ request to confirm that the transcript provided to The Federalist was indeed a copy of Sessions’ remarks, but Buzzfeed’s Dominic Holden tweeted that “a person familiar with the situation tells me the Justice Dept DID provide Sessions’s remarks to The Federalist.” In the remarks, as published by The Federalist on Thursday, Sessions praised the group for its "important work" made necessary by a "changing cultural climate" that has put the "future of religious liberty" in doubt. “The cultural climate has become less hospitable to people of faith and to religious belief,” Sessions said. “And in recent years, many Americans have felt that their freedom to practice their faith has been under attack. This feeling is understandable.” Sessions told his audience that his office, at the behest of President separation of church and state. “The gove... Link to the full article to read more