Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

WATCH: Schumer Says Sessions Confirmation Turned His Stomach

Senator Charles Schumer didn’t mince words on how the confirmation of Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general made him feel: physically ill.

“When Jeff Sessions was passed, it turned my stomach,” said Schumer during a February 8 appearance on the Rachel Maddow Show.

The Alabama Republican has faced accusations of being a racist and has been a longtime supporter of immigration reduction.

“He’s probably almost certainly the most anti-immigrant senator of the hundred. On civil rights and voting rights he’s probably one of the top three or four against these sacred rights,” Schumer continued.

Republicans know that President Donald Trump’s candidates are unfit for their roles, but are afraid to go against Trump, Schumer said: “He doesn’t belong there, and I think a lot of Republicans know it.”

The final vote was 52 senators in favor of confirming Sessions and 47 against. Democrat Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) crossed party lines and voted in favor of Sessions.

Contact Andrea Cantor at [email protected]

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.