Attorney General Jeff Sessions praised the Trump administration’s approach to policing on Wednesday, saying he’s already seen a difference in morale among law enforcement officers since President Trump entered the White House.
“Based on my experience meeting with officers like you across the country, I believe that morale has already improved under President Trump. I can feel the difference,” Sessions said in prepared remarks for a speech at the Valor Survive and Thrive Conference in Illinois.
Sessions delivered the remarks hours after Trump renewed his criticism of his attorney general in an interview with The Hill.
“I don’t have an attorney general. It’s very sad,” Trump said, adding that “a lot of people” have asked him to fire Sessions over his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
In a previous attack, Trump said he would “get involved” if the Justice Department and FBI did not “start doing their job and doing it right.”
Sessions said Wednesday that law enforcement “is a noble profession and one that demands respect” and vowed the Trump administration would steer clear of micromanaging the work they do.
For much of the speech, Sessions deplored violent crime rates in Chicago, citing Obama administration policies as the reason crime went up.
During the Obama presidency, police departments in several cities, including Chicago, were subjected to Justice Department investigations and reform efforts after the killings of black men by police.
Sessions, who has been skeptical of the consent decrees, said the reforms led to more violence in Chicago as “policing went down.”
He also blamed Chicago leadership for entering into a consent decree with the American Civil Liberties Union over “stop and frisk” policies. The decree required police officers to submit detailed reports after every single stop, which Sessions said led to officers fearing they’d face repercussions for stops that could later be considered illegal.
“There’s a clear lesson here: If you want more shootings and more death, then listen to the ACLU, Black Lives Matter, or Antifa. If you want public safety, then listen to the police professionals who have been studying this for 35 years,” he said.
