SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — Pramila Jayapal, a U.S. Representative-elect and the first Indian-American woman to be elected in the House of Representatives, released a statement Friday on the appointments of Jeff Sessions and Steve Bannon by President-elect Donald Trump.
Bannon previously oversaw a website “that publishes views that are clearly racist and reflect calls for a white supremacist agenda that have absolutely no place in our country,” the statement said.
“I denounce President-elect Trump’s appointment of Steve Bannon, and call on him to revoke this appointment,” Jayapal continued.
Immediately following Trump’s election, there have been more than 300 hate crimes reported across the U.S., she said. “By selecting Steve Bannon as chief strategist and now Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, Trump has made it clear that he will continue to prey on the fears of ordinary Americans instead of uniting us as a country, ‘indivisible, with liberty and justice for all’,” the statement added.
Jayapal called Sessions’ leadership abilities into question by citing the fact he was denied appointment for a federal judgeship by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which, at the time, was under the control of his fellow Republicans. Himself once the chairman of the committee, Sessions has opposed immigration reform as well as essential bipartisan proposals to reform the criminal justice system, Jayapal said.
“Appointing him as Attorney General would send a terrifying message to people across the country about the next Administration’s commitment to civil rights, criminal justice reform and constitutional rights,” she added in the statement.
“If Trump intends to be a President for all of the U.S., he must abandon the divisive rhetoric of his campaign and choose appointees who will uphold our constitutional values and the core ideas of inclusion and diversity. If he does not do so, I intend to be ready to stand and fight every step of the way and to build the movement that can stop these disastrous rollbacks to decades of progress,” she said.
