Skip to main content

Sessions Emerges as Forceful Figure in Condemning Charlottesville Violence - The New York Times

posted onAugust 15, 2017
>

Article snippet: WASHINGTON — When Attorney General Jeff Sessions denounced the violence in Charlottesville, Va., as an “evil” act of domestic terrorism on Monday, he was in some ways an unlikely figure to emerge as one of the most prominent voices in the Trump administration on the issue. Though he is the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, Mr. Sessions, an outspoken Alabama conservative, is viewed with mistrust by many civil-rights advocates concerned about his ambivalence over expanding protections for minorities. But he has stepped outside that mold in aggressively responding to the deadly car attack by an apparent white nationalist sympathizer on anti-racism protesters in Charlottesville, announcing a federal civil rights investigation within hours and labeling the attack an act of domestic terrorism during a string of television appearances on Monday. “You can be sure we will charge and advance the investigation toward the most serious charges that can be brought, because this is an unequivocally unacceptable and evil attack that cannot be accepted in America,” Mr. Sessions said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” The steps he has taken, which stood in stark contrast to President Trump’s fitful responses, dovetailed with his law-and-order image and earned cautious praise from civil rights advocates. Kristen Clarke, the president of the liberal Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, called Mr. Sessions’s moves a “step in the right direction,” although she was reluct... Link to the full article to read more

Emotional score for this article