(Video above: Sen. Jeff Sessions appears on CNN “State of the Union” on Sunday, July 31, 2016)
MOBILE, Ala. — Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on Sunday defended Donald J. Trump against a variety of accusations, saying the billionaire businessman is taking on all comers while Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is “hiding from the press.”
During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,”, Sessions began by responding to accusations by the father of a fallen Muslim U.S. serviceman that Mr. Trump has a “black soul,” saying the Republican presidential nominee’s position that the U.S. government should be “careful about bringing in immigrants from countries that have terrorists tendencies” is in lockstep with the opinion of most American citizens.
Khizr Kahn, a Muslim attorney whose son, U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, was killed in Iraq, gave an impassioned speech during last week’s Democratic National Convention, blasting Mr. Trump for “smear(ing) the character of Muslims” and saying the billionaire businessman has never had to “sacrifice anything.” Mr. Kahn followed up with a CNN interview on Sunday during which he said Mr. Trump has a “black soul.”
“I reject that and I am disappointed that he would say that,” Sen. Sessions said in response to Mr. Kahn’s comments. “Donald Trump complimented him, he praised his son, who gave his life for this country. Mr. Khan’s son served in the military. He did his duty and he gave his life for America and that deserves to be celebrated, absolutely. But I don’t think that anybody that says we ought to slow down and be more careful about bringing in immigrants from countries that have terrorists tendencies and can’t be vetted properly, I don’t think that’s a person who lacks a soul. In fact, millions of Americans — a majority of Americans — favor that kind of policy with regard to immigration from countries that have histories of terrorism.
“Every American, regardless of their religion, is entitled to be protected in the free expression of that religion in America,” Sen. Sessions continued. “But you don’t have a religious right to demand entry into the United States. The Constitution does not give that right. In fact, the law of the United States is crystal clear that the President should not admit people or classes of people who he deems to be detrimental to the country.”
CNN’s Jim Acosta also questioned Sen. Sessions about whether Mr. Trump is too pro-Russia. Mr. Trump recently responded to allegations that Russian intelligence agencies had hacked the Democratic National Committee by suggesting that perhaps they also had the 30,000 emails Mrs. Clinton had previously deleted from her private email server.
“What I want to tell you is Hillary Clinton left her email system totally vulnerable to Russian penetration,” Sen. Sessions said. “It’s probably clear that they have what was on that system. I have people come up to me all the time and say, ‘If you want to find out where those 30,000 emails are, why don’t you ask the Russians. They’re the ones who have them.’ So she made a huge error in that. Secondly, this whole problem with Russia is really disastrous for America, for Russia, and for the world. Donald Trump is right. We need to figure out a way to end this cycle of hostility that is putting our country at risk, costing us billions of dollars… The issue is, are we able to create a new and positive relationship with Russia? It makes no sense that we are at the hostility level we are. Hillary Clinton (while Secretary of State) tried the ‘reset’ and it failed, and we need to see what we can do in the future.”
After numerous questions about Mr. Trump’s comments to the media, Sen. Sessions finally shot back that at least “Trump takes these interviews all the time, unlike Hillary Clinton, who hides from the press.”
Prior to a brief media availability on Sunday, Mrs. Clinton had gone 239 days without speaking to the press.
