Last night Jeff Sessions was confirmed by the US Senate as Donald Trump's attorney general, a move that was celebrated by former KKK wizard David Duke as "taking America back".
The Alabama Senator was confirmed last night by a vote of 52-47 in the Senate. Sessions, who will now be in charge of the US justice department, has faced repeated allegations of racism, making Trump's selection arguably his most controversial yet.
Sessions was an early supporter of Trump's bid for the presidency. He is an conservative Republican, with clear stances against abortion, immigration, and same-sex marriage. He is also known for his tough stance on criminal justice and in line with Trump's self-appointment as "the law and order candidate."
"By your appointment tonight, I have been given a real challenge. I'll do my best to be worthy of it." Sessions said after the vote.
On Tuesday, Senator Elizabeth Warren was silenced for attempting to criticise Sessions in a Senate hearing on his nomination. Warren attempted to read out a letter from Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King. King wrote the letter in 1986 to oppose the appointment of Sessions to the position of federal judge.
The letter includes the allegation that Sessions "used the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters."
Warren began reading the letter, which read: "Mr Sessions has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens," at which point she was interrupted by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell.
McConnell accused Warren of impugning Sessions' character, and Warren was then forbidden to speak for the rest of the Senate discussion.
David Duke, a white nationalist and former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan made clear his enthusiasm about the confirmation. When Sessions was originally picked in November, Duke praised Sessions for publicly opposing "the massive, institutionalized racial discrimination against white people called affirmative action."
Following Session's confirmation, Duke tweeted:
Sessions has called allegations that he was a supporter of the KKK "damnably false", but was criticised when he joked that he thought the Klan were OK until he heard they smoked marijuana.
Actor Chris Evans registered the frustration of many when he tweeted in repsonse to Duke's praise of Sessions: "If David Duke...thinks you're right, then you are unequivocaly wrong."
