President-Elect Donald Trump announced today that he has selected Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions to serve as Attorney General. The New York Times reports that Sessions, a Republican who has represented Alabama in the United States Senate since 1997, was a close adviser to Trump after officially endorsing the Presidential candidate early in his campaign.

Sessions served as the 44th Attorney General of the State of Alabama from 1995 to 1997 under then-Governor Fob James. Sessions also served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama from 1981 to 1983.

President Ronald Reagan nominated Sessions for a federal judgeship in 1986; however, that appointment was denied by a Republican controlled Senate committee after allegations of racism. The Washington Post reports Sessions' colleagues testified that he had used the n-word and made encouraging remarks about the Ku Klux Klan. The Huffington Post reports that Sessions also referred to civil rights groups as "un-American," called an African-American attorney 'boy,' and "suggested a white lawyer working for black clients was a race traitor."

Sessions, whose full name is Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, was born in Selma, Alabama in 1946. He attended Huntingdon College in Selma and received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Alabama. He served in the United States Army from 1973 to 1977, earning the rank of Captain.

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