Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., implored Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions to distance himself from President-elect Trump if he is confirmed as attorney general.
“This job requires service to the people and the law, not to the president,” Feinstein said in her opening statement at Tuesday’s confirmation hearing. “The attorney general must put aside loyalty to the president, he must ensure that the law and the Constitution come first and foremost. Period.”
Feinstein pointed to Trump’s campaign rhetoric about his desire for the Justice Department to prosecute failed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and she noted that the attorney general is not the president’s lawyer. Later in the hearing, Sessions said he would recuse himself from any matter involving Clinton that was raised during the 2016 presidential campaign.
