Ayanna Pressley, the first black woman elected to represent Massachusetts in the House, had a curt farewell message on Wednesday for fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“Well, on the departure of Jeff Sessions, I would say: Bigot, exit stage left,” Pressley said during an interview with CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time.”
Sessions, whose Senate confirmation for a federal judgeship in 1986 was derailed over racism allegations, was dismissed Wednesday as the country’s top law enforcement official. Trump had repeatedly berated Sessions over his March 2017 decision to recuse himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s federal Russia investigation.
“I’m glad to see he, and his bigoted mindset, and his policies exiting the White House, but certainly no more encouraged by who will succeed him given the track record of the current occupant of the White House to obstruct justice and to delay this investigation,” Pressley said. Former Justice Department chief of staff Matthew Whitaker was appointed to serve as acting attorney general until a new Senate-confirmed cabinet member can be named.
“It is going to be incumbent upon myself and my colleagues in government to ensure that this investigation remains one that is independent, and to keep the special counsel,” she said.
Mass. congresswoman-elect, Democrat @AyannaPressley, celebrates the departure of former AG Sessions, saying “bigot exit stage left.”
“I’m glad to see he and his bigoted mindset and his policies exiting the White House…but certainly no more encouraged by who will succeed him.” pic.twitter.com/l7cT2GydSC
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) November 8, 2018
Pressley will take a seat in the 116th U.S. Congress as a member of the Democratic majority in the House. Presumptive House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already vowed that the chamber will act as a check on the Trump administration.
Whitaker has been critical of the Mueller probe, writing in an op-ed last year that the special counsel’s office had exceeded its investigatory scope and could be limited by funding cuts.
