federal judge. he is i belve a disgrace to the justice department and he should withdraw his nomination and resign his position. that was the late senator ted kennedy speaking during the 1986 hearing for jeff sessions, this one a nominee for federal judgeship. sessions was ultimately denied that position by the senate judiciary committee, a 10-8 vote. senate democrats are now looking to block up to eight of donald trump s nominees, senator sessions widely considered one of the most controversial. joining me tonight is sarah florez, a spokesperson for jeff session, howard dean, former chair of the dnc, and christina greer, associate professor of political science at fordham. welcome, everyone. christina, the sessions nomination is controversial. it also as a matter of the historical record is unusual because he is the only nominee who has been previously basically passed on by the senate for a different position.
it s no secret donald trump didn t get along that well with paul ryan or mitch mcconnell back during the election. a new report from the new york post has some fresh ideas into just how deep that divide could remain. the post reporting president-elect trump told senate minority leader chuck schumer he actually likes him, a democrat, more than mcconnell and ryan because the two republican leaders, quote, wanted him to lose. the post cites a source close to them for the quote. democrats don t dispute the quote. schumer and trump are both born and raised new yorkers. trump s even donated to schumer s campaign in the past. that s about as far as it goes. the washington post report says that senate democrats led by schumer are planning to contest at least eight of trump s nominees and want to stretch their confirmation hearings all the way into march. those eight targeted nominees include exxon ceo rex tillerson for secretary of state as well as senator jeff sessions, trump s contr
thing 1 tonight. 36 years ago in tempe, arizona, bruce springsteen made what are believed to be his first publicly recorded comments about politics. now it was november 5th, 1980. in other words, one day after ronald reagan was elected president. i don t know what you think about happened last night, but i think it s pretty frightening. there will be a lot of people depending on you coming up. now decades later springsteen would become an advocate for president obama campaigning both in 2008 and 2012, and he campaigned for hillary clinton this year. but if he was frightened by reagan s election all the way back in 1980, how is the boss feeling about donald trump s victory? those brand-new comments thing 2 in 60 seconds.
black americans in this country. it s about how he feels about the history but also the future of this country. so the fact that donald trump, in the 21st century, in 2016, chose this particular individual to me and to many others, black and white and other, sends a very distinct message about the dog bark, not even a dog whistle, but a dog bark he s trying to send about his racial platform. senator sessions is a horrible choice for this particular position, especially as an attorney general who is supposed to uphold some of the most important ideals of the constitution. sarah, what is your response and how does the senator address that history from the first confirmation hearing? well, i mean, i think it s pretty clear that the leftist playbook at this point is smear. i didn t hear a lot of facts. 30 years ago, the democrats practiced their playbook they
piece of it. you think that unlike basically most other incoming presidents he doesn t want to give any informational deference to the intelligence community because their ability to call it as they see it is a threat in his mind to his own power? absolutely it is. this is how authoritarians operate this is why they attack the media, this is why they attack other sources of power. this is why they try to undermine democratic norms and democratic systems. this is part of the playbook. so this is what happens. donald trump gets painted into a corner because the media, because the intelligence community and so many others can see that russia is attacking our democracy. and he refuses to acknowledge it. and so he denies it, says we should move on. and ultimately he says because there s no other way i ve got information that you don t have. but i m not going to tell you for a few days. so what happens? then we in the media talk about it for a few days, repeating his claim to know things t