Newport, RI – U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement regarding the forced resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions today:
“The attorney general is different from other cabinet officers in that this office must be fiercely independent in its enforcement of the law. Politics has no place in those decisions.
“Both the acting attorney general and the president’s next nominee must commit to protecting the special counsel and his investigation. Jeff Sessions’s departure must not be a prelude to sabotage of the Mueller investigation—obstruction from within.
“It is also important for the next attorney general to uphold civil rights and voter protections, and commit to reforming our criminal justice system. The Justice Department ought to reclaim its leadership in those areas.”
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