Kevin Johnson

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — If President Trump follows through on his call for an inquiry into unsubstantiated claims of massive voter fraud, the request would likely land on the desk of a man whose own history of pursuing such allegations continues to shadow his public record.

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, who is awaiting likely confirmation as Trump’s attorney general, was forced to defend himself earlier this month during Senate hearings on his nomination for the failed, racially charged prosecution of three black activists more than 30 years ago.

In that case, Sessions, then the chief federal prosecutor in Mobile, Ala., charged Albert Turner Sr., his wife, Evelyn Turner, and Spencer Hogue with tampering with absentee ballots in a September 1984 primary election.

All three were quickly acquitted in a case that raised the specter of voter intimidation and later helped sink Sessions' previous bid for a federal judgeship.

Directly addressing those claims before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month, Sessions called the assertions "false.'' The Turners' son, Albert Turner Jr., ultimately issued an endorsement of nominee, but his surviving mother, Evelyn Turner, said Sessions' nomination had only served to re-open a deep wound.

"It feels like (the prosecution) is happening all over again,'' she said in an interview earlier this month with USA TODAY.

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If Sessions is ultimately confirmed, Trump's claim may prove to be the first test of the senator's pledge earlier this month to not be "a mere rubber-stamp to any idea the president has.''

"The office of the attorney general of the United States is not a political position, and anyone who holds it must have total fidelity to the laws and the constitution of the United States,'' Sessions told the Senate panel. "He or she must be committed to following the law. He or she must be willing to tell the president 'no' if he overreaches.''

Sessions has been unavailable for comment while his confirmation is pending.

Allegations 'harmful'

Myrna Pérez, director of the Voting Rights and Elections Project at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, said the "unsubstantiated allegations are harmful.''

"Voter fraud and threats of voter fraud have been used throughout this country's history ... to justify policies that don't make our elections more secure and suppress voters,'' Pérez said.

Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called Trump's fraud assertion "absolute nonsense.''

"There is simply no evidence of widespread voter fraud in this country. Period,'' Feinstein said. "It's important that we not lose sight of the context in which President Trump has aired his conspiracy theories. There has been a sustained effort across the country — rooted in similar conspiracies about voter fraud — to make it harder for Americans to vote.''

The interim leadership of the Justice Department, which would investigate violations of the federal voting rights laws, declined comment Wednesday on the president’s call for an inquiry and his assertion that up to 5 million illegal immigrants voted in the general election.

Prior to Election Day, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division deployed more than 500 people to 28 states to monitor voting.

Monitors were dispatched to such far-flung locations as Alaska’s Kusilvak Census Area and Pawtucket, R.I., to Houston and Phoenix.

In the aftermath of the election, Justice officials announced no major incidents of voter fraud, let alone mass numbers of undocumented immigrants attempting to vote.

U.S. attorney firings

Yet allegations of voter fraud have proved to be contentious issues at Justice in past administrations.

In the politically charged purge of nine U.S. attorneys during the George W. Bush administration, a scandal that ultimately prompted the resignation of then-attorney general Alberto Gonzales, complaints about unaddressed incidents of voter fraud figured prominently.

The Justice Department's inspector general ultimately found that New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was placed on a removal list "based largely on complaints about (his) handling of certain voter fraud and public corruption investigations in New Mexico.''

Then-senator Pete Domenici, R-N.M., had complained repeatedly to Gonzales about Iglesias' handling of the matters allegedly involving Democrats.

Following his removal, Iglesias said Domenici called him personally in October 2006 to ask whether the prosecutor planned to bring an indictment against Democrats.

Iglesias' removal, the inspector general concluded in a 2008 report, was "perhaps the most controversial removal of all the U.S. attorneys."