Jeff Sessions

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About

Jeff Sessions is a conservative politician from Alabama, USA. After serving as a Senator for the state for two decades, he joined President Donald Trump's cabinet in 2017 as his Attorney General, where most notably he has been an important figure in the ongoing Russiagate investigation.

History

Jeff Sessions was born in Selma, Alabama in 1946.^[1] After practicing law in the state, Sessions was named the state's US Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama by Ronald Reagan in 1981. In 1986, Reagan nominated Sessions to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. However, Sessions' history of partiality with regards to issues dealing with race kept the state Senate from confirming him. Famously in this confirmation proceeding, Coretta Scott King wrote a letter strongly recommending against confirming Sessions, saying “Anyone who has used the power of his office as United States Attorney to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens should not be elevated to our courts… Mr. Sessions has used the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters. For this reprehensible conduct, he should not be rewarded with a federal judgeship.”^[2]

In 1994, he won an election to be Alabama's Attorney General. During his tenure, he defended a school-funding model which was found unconstitutional for the way it discriminated against minorities in the state. He also defended the state in a case in which an LGBT group in Alabama sued the state for denying them funding. Sessions' argument was that the state should not fund groups promoting illegal activities such as sodomy. In 1996, he won election to the United States Senate, where he served as Junior Senator from Alabama for 20 years.

Attorney General

After being a prominent Trump supporter in the 2016 United States Presidential Election, Sessions was nominated by Trump to serve as Attorney General. After a contentious confirmation process that saw many protests and Coretta Scott King's letter, Sessions was confirmed by a vote of 52-47 in the United States Senate.

Russiagate Involvement

In February 2017, the Justice Department claimed that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kiskylak on two occasions while Sessions was an adviser for the Trump campaign. This revelation contradicted Session's testimony during his Senate confirmation hearing, in which he stated that he no contact with Russian officials. On March 2nd, Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation into the Russian hacking. Sessions and his Deputy Rod Rosenstein both suggested that Trump fire James Comey, ostensibly to quell the Russiagate investigation. On June 6th, 2017, The New York Times^[3] reported that Sessions had offered his resignation to Trump in recent weeks amid rising controversy surrounding Russiagate, but Trump declined. It is unclear as of June 12th whether Trump has confidence in Sessions. Sessions will publicly testify before the Senate Intel Committee on June 13th.^[4]

Russiagate Testimony

On June 13th, Sessions testified publicly before the Senate and said that any allegations he helped the Trump campaign collude with Russia a "detestable lie."^[8] He also did not answer any questions about his conversations with Trump, citing vague legal reasons that conversations between the President and the Attorney General were to be kept confidential. However, Sessions could not point to specific Justice Department language to validate his reasoning. He also repeatedly stated he "couldn't recall" important details pertaining to the investigation, such as how many times he met with Sergey Kiskylak. Online, Twitter users followed the proceedings by making jokes about Sessions' appearance and demeanor, comparing him to Keebler Elves and Looney Toons character Foghorn Leghorn. These jokes were covered by Uproxx.^[9]

Views on Marijuana

Sessions is notoriously against the legalization of marijuana, saying the drug is "only slightly less awful than heroin."^[5] On May 12th, The New York Times^[6] reported that Sessions had ordered federal prosecutors to pursue the maximum punishment in drug-related charges. Sessions' position led Smash Mouth to retweet Roger Stone's recommendation that Sessions stop watching Reefer Madness and let states decide on marijuana legalization (shown below, left).

Resignation

On November 7th, 2018, it was reported that Donald Trump had asked Jeff Sessions to resign from his position as Attorney General. After his resignation, it was announced by Trump that Matthew Whitaker would be his replacement until a permanent replacement could be found, tweeting^[10] "We are pleased to announce that Matthew G. Whitaker, Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice, will become our new Acting Attorney General of the United States. He will serve our Country well……..We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well! A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date."

In his resignation letter,^[11] Sessions wrote that he "worked to implement the law enforcement agenda based on the rule of law that formed a central part of your campaign for the presidency."

Read Full Statement

Online, people joked about the firing, commenting on the lack of a date on the resignation letter, his perceived likeness to the Keebler elves and more. Twitter^[12] user @GMPaiella tweeted a photograph of Keebler cookies and the caption "Fucked up that they're going to turn Jeff Sessions into one of these but what's done is done." Within 24 hours, the post received more than 120 likes and 665 retweets (shown below, left). Similarly, Twitter^[13] user @allisona15 tweeted a picture of the Keebler elf with the caption, "good news! now jeff sessions has more time for his other hobbies, like baking" (shown below, center). New York Times writer David Itzkoff tweeted,^[14] clues that that Sessions' resignation was long in the planning: -letter undated -refers to "the new states of Arizona and New Mexico" -congratulates Babe Ruth on 1st career home run -offers condolences to Lusitania victims -stamp on envelope one of those upside-down airplanes." The tweet received more than 700 retweets and 5,900 likes in 24 hours.

After the installation of the new acting Attorney General, some expressed concern about the Mueller-Russia investigation, which could be in jeopardy. A MoveOn.org^[15] event was created calling for "MUELLER PROTECTION RAPID RESPONSE." The multi-state events calls on activists to protest the possible firing of Rod Rosenstein and dissolving of the Mueller investigation. The post states:

Donald Trump has installed a crony to oversee the special counsel's Trump-Russia investigation, crossing a red line set to protect the investigation. By replacing Rod Rosenstein with just-named Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker as special counsel Robert Mueller's boss on the investigation, Trump has undercut the independence of the investigation. Whitaker has publicly outlined strategies to stifle the investigation and cannot be allowed to remain in charge of it. The Nobody Is Above the Law network demands that Whitaker immediately commit not to assume supervision of the investigation. Our hundreds of response events are being launched to demonstrate the public demand for action to correct this injustice. We will update this page as the situation develops.

On November 8th, Redditor^[16] Wadsworth_Constant_ asked about the protests in the /r/OutOfTheLoop subreddit "I keep seeing links for this website. But I'm having a hard time understanding the context of investigation and its role in the bigger picture of American Politics? Didn't the US Democrats just win back the house?" The post received more than 11,000 (83% upvoted) and 1,000 comments.

Some outlets made reference to Sessions's positions on cannabis legislation. The Atlantic^[17] reported that marijuana-related stocks spiked after news of Sessions's resignation. The Onion ^[18] wrote a mock article entitled "Inconsolable Jeff Sessions Tries To Commit Suicide By Smoking Joint."

Jeff Sessions Retire Bitch

After Sessions' March 2nd recusal from the Russiagate investigation, Twitter saw a surge of Retire Bitch tweets related to Sessions.

Nazi Keebler Elf

Sessions' appearance and views on racist has caused Twitter users to popularly describe him as a "Nazi Keebler Elf."^[7] On June 12th, 2017, Eric Garland of the It's Time For Some Game Theory meme used the phrase to express excitement over Sessions' upcoming testimony, gaining over 280 retweets (shown below).