The 5 wildest moments from The New York Times' profile of Jeff Sessions
Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions is now Alabama's frontrunning candidate for Senate, and shared his thoughts on police reform and what's been happening in the White House since he left for a profile in The New York Times Magazine published Tuesday. Here are 5 of the article's wildest moments.
1. Favorably comparing President Trump to Egypt's Sisi: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has been accused of crimes against humanity, is a "strongman" who "promised to protect" the country's Christian minority, Sessions said when asked how Christians can support Trump. "That's basically what the Christians in the United States did. They felt they were under attack, and the strong guy promised to defend them. And he has," Session said.
2. Seemingly calling a Black professor 'criminal': Sessions attacked former President Barack Obama for having "a beer at the White House with some criminal, to listen to him." That seemed to be a reference to Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Black professor at Harvard University who was arrested trying to enter his own home, though a Sessions spokesperson declined to elaborate.
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3. Applauding Trump's Bible photo op: Sessions decried the religious leaders who opposed Trump for clearing out protesters to take a photo in front of St. John's Church, calling Trump "a defender of the faith" and labeling those priests "a bunch of socialist leftists."
4. Defending family separation:
In a disturbing, guttural voice, [Sessions] mocked much of the nation's reaction [to separating children and parents at the border]: 'Nooooo, this is a poor child! They just want a job!'
5. This moment, before Sessions returned to his pineapple upside-down cake:
"Nation-states are not gone, they're not out of date. America is not an idea, Paul Ryan — it’s a nation." [Sessions] began to bang his fists as he spoke, sending the silverware and ice in his peach tea aquiver. "It's a secular nation-state. It has" — another bang — “rules."
Read more at The New York Times Magazine.
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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
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