Presidential Transition Inside Sessions' strategy to combat racism allegations Allies of the Alabama senator tapped to lead the DOJ will play up his bonds with moderate Republicans and Democrats in the chummy Senate.

The Trump team and Senate Republicans have a strategy to usher Sen. Jeff Sessions through his attorney general confirmation hearing that will highlight his ties to moderate Republicans and Democrats and efforts on bipartisan legislation, according to interviews with more than a half dozen senators, aides and transition officials leading the effort.

As the Senate Judiciary Committee kicks off a two-day marathon hearing on Sessions Tuesday, the goal isn’t just to get him confirmed. Trump's team wants him to emerge unscathed, with a clear runway to enact his policy agenda at DOJ despite his controversial history on voting rights and decades-old allegations of racism.


Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) will introduce Sessions — an unambiguous signal that even the most moderate member of the GOP conference is on board. And committee Republicans plan to serve as character witnesses for Sessions, playing up the Alabama senator’s longevity in the clubby chamber and his personal relationships with Democrats.

Collins said Sessions personally asked her to introduce him at his confirmation hearing. The two Republicans both came to the Senate as part of the class of 1996 and still share dinners together.

In her prepared statement, Collins plans to lean on their shared history. "In the 20 years since, we have worked closely on some issues and on opposite sides on others. In fact, it would be fair to say that we have had our share of vigorous debates and policy disagreements," according to the statement. "I can confidently vouch for the fact that Jeff Sessions is a person of integrity, a principled leader, and a dedicated public servant."

The transition team has spent weeks lining up prominent African-Americans to vouch for Sessions’ civil rights record, including Larry Thompson, a former deputy attorney general, and Theodore Jackson, a former special agent in charge of the FBI in Mobile, Ala. who worked along Sessions. Thompson will deliver testimony promoting Sessions on Wednesday, when the committee hosts outside witnesses.

It's all been part of a concerted re-branding effort on the part of the transition team to cast Sessions as a friend to African-Americans, law enforcement, and even Democratic lawmakers — despite the protests of dozens of civil and voting rights groups.

Sen. Susan Collins is to say: "I can confidently vouch for the fact that Jeff Sessions is a person of integrity, a principled leader, and a dedicated public servant." | AP Photo

The underlying bet is that Sessions' familiarity with fellow lawmakers on the committee, even liberals, will smooth the confirmation process. Senators tend to be more deferential to one of their own, and Sessions has been one of them for roughly 20 years.

“The irony is, all of the senators on the committee know Jeff Sessions because they’ve worked alongside him for many, many years,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, a committee member. “They know he’s a very decent, honorable man and somebody who’s dedicated to the rule of law.”

Yet the senatorial chumminess is incensing outside civil rights groups.

“Republicans on the committee have orchestrated a rushed and rigged confirmation process that privileges friendship to a Senate colleague over the advice and consent that is their constitutional duty,” said Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

Democrats on the committee are promising a thorough grilling of Sessions’ conservative policy stances and lining up their own witnesses aimed to paint the Alabama senator as out of the mainstream.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, is enlisting civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and other Congressional Black Caucus members to testify during Sessions’ hearing. Others slated to appear on behalf of Democrats include Cornell Brooks, the president and CEO of the NAACP who was recently arrested following a sit-in at Sessions’ office in Mobile, Ala., and Oscar Vasquez, a former “Dreamer” whose appearance underscores Sessions’ staunchly conservative views on immigration.

Still, Republicans have their own ammunition.

Trump's team believes the conservative-tilted 2018 Senate election map plays in its favor, predicting red-state Democrats will be hard-pressed to vote against one of the president-elect’s most high-profile picks. One of them, however, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, has already announced he’ll reject Sessions.

“If you’re going to save your butt as a Democrat, this is not the ‘no’ vote to cast,” said one transition official.

Expect Sessions’ partnership with Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin to reduce sentencing disparities for crack and powder cocaine to be a frequent talking point. The Illinois Democrat has said while he was pleased with their work together on the cocaine issue, he “did not sense a continuing commitment” from Sessions on broader reforms to the criminal justice system.

Still, the Alabama senator’s personal relationships with Democrats will be impossible to avoid. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who sits on the Judiciary Committee, was Sessions’ bipartisan “prom date” to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address in 2011.

Still, she left her private meeting with Sessions last week concerned about his views on immigration and the Violence Against Women Act, whose re-authorization he voted against in 2013.

“You can work with someone and get along and still have questions about their views on things,” Klobuchar said.

Vows from Democrats that they won’t go easy on Sessions has infuriated Republicans who say Democrats are reneging on past tradition of senatorial courtesy.

“I’m getting a little resentful of the way Democrats are treating a fellow member,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who called Sessions a highly effective lawmaker. “We didn’t treat their people that way and to be honest with you, I don’t think we would even stoop to that level."

Sessions has split from fellow Republicans on many issues, from immigration and criminal justice to more obscure policies such as civil asset forfeiture. But GOP senators don’t plan to dwell on those differences.

For instance, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Sessions are diametrically opposed on criminal justice reform. But Tillis isn’t planning on grilling the attorney general nominee about the issue.

“I will probably mention that that will continue to be a priority of mine and that I am looking forward to having someone … at the head of the agency that will make sure when we’re successful with criminal justice reform, that it’s executed properly in the way we envision it,” Tillis said.

For his part, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said he plans to stress the issue of congressional oversight over the Justice Department when Sessions appears before his committee – a longtime personal priority for the Iowan.

In the end, Trump's transition team is banking that Sessions’ personal relationships will make for a smoother hearing.

“We’re expecting a thoughtful discussion on a variety of issues, but this will be among colleagues,” said Sarah Isgur Flores, a spokeswoman for Sessions’ confirmation. “He has been on both sides of the gavel for 20 years. He knows what to expect, since he has a long history as a prosecutor, state attorney general, and senator, and they will find that he is very prepared."