Tuesday afternoon, during the confirmation hearing of Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions, Senator Patrick Leahy asked the question that many viewers were probably asking themselves: Would Sessions, a Trump supporter from the beginning, be willing to prosecute the next President for actions like the ones Trump described in his infamous conversation with Billy Bush?
In case you were living in a cave during the campaign season, Trump’s recorded remarks included him bragging that he could grab women “by the pussy” and get away with it because he’s famous. While Trump didn’t specifically say he’s done that, the flippancy of the comment in its description of what sounded like sexual assault outraged many voters. Senator Leahy got right to it, asking if such an act would be assault, and whether Sessions would prosecute if Trump or another high ranking federal official did it while in office.
Sessions acknowledged that grabbing a woman by the genitals without consent would clearly be sexual assault. He said that a President is “subject to certain lawful restrictions,” and that those restrictions would be “required to be applied … if appropriate, yes.”
So basically, in so many words, Sessions said that yes, he would prosecute such an offense, although he didn’t seem all that eager to talk about it.
[Image via CSPAN3 screengrab]
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