NC NAACP asks Tillis to reject Sessions as attorney general
WASHINGTON (WTVD) -- North Carolina NAACP President Rev. William Barber and members of the Forward Together Moral Movement delivered a letter to Sen. Thom Tillis' office Wednesday, asking him to reject GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general.
This comes one day after Sessions' Senate confirmation hearing began. Activists at the news conference at the federal building in Raleigh say they oppose Sessions' views.
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Opponents to Sessions' appointment as attorney general are calling him extremist, anti-immigration and insensitive to civil rights.
"It's about preventing these attacks on vulnerable people and not saying certain groups are not part of our country or don't deserve the same rights or the ability to vote or the same protections under the law as everyone else," said Georgia Welch with the Moral Monday movement.
Republicans have expressed strong support for Sessions and are expected to secure more than enough votes needed to confirm him as attorney general.
"Jeff Sessions has called the voting rights act intrusive," Rev. Barber said. "That is deeply, deeply offensive."
Daniel Keylin, Sen. Tillis' communications director, sent this statement:
"Partisan political activists like Rev. William Barber - on both the far-left and far-right - represent the single greatest threat to bipartisan progress in our political system. While Senator Tillis uses his position on the Senate Judiciary Committee to fight for bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform and compensation for eugenics victims, Barber uses the microphone the media gives him to widen the partisan divide in North Carolina."
Tillis was in Washington D.C. Wednesday, his office said, adding Barber never requested a meeting to discuss the Sessions nomination.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
