Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ seemingly disparaging remark about the state of Hawaii was “really bizarre,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Friday, speaking on CNN’s “New Day.”
“A friendly reminder to Jeff Sessions as attorney general: Number one, Hawaii, that island in the Pacific, is our 50th state. Number two: Judges routinely issue orders that apply nationwide,” said Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, adding that the remark was “really bizarre.”
“There is nothing amazing about that fact except that our constitutional system really is amazing … it’s the marvel of the world,” he added.
Sessions said this week he was “amazed” that a judge in Hawaii could block President Donald Trump’s executive order halting immigration from several Muslim-majority countries.
“I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the President of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and Constitutional power,” he said on “The Mark Levin Show” Tuesday evening.
Justice Department spokesperson Ian D. Prior clarified Sessions’ remarks in a statement on Thursday.
“Hawaii is, in fact, an island in the Pacific — a beautiful one where the Attorney General’s granddaughter was born,” he said. “The point, however, is that there is a problem when a flawed opinion by a single judge can block the President’s lawful exercise of authority to keep the entire country safe.”
