WASHINGTON -- The two Arkansans who will vote on President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet picks say they support U.S. attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions, and they predict that their fellow senator will be confirmed once this week's hearings are complete.
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U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, who joined the Senate two years ago, said the Alabama Republican has become a good friend.
"He's among the most kind, decent, Christian men I have met in five years in politics," the Republican from Dardanelle said, questioning why Sessions is under attack.
"If they want to oppose Jeff Sessions because they disagree with his views on sentencing policy or immigration law, that's one thing," Cotton said.
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But the personal attacks are utterly unjustified, Cotton said. "Some of the Democratic accusations or insinuations are outrageous," he said.
Cotton, who met with Sessions last week and discussed the nomination, predicts that Sessions will survive the onslaught and be sworn into office as the nation's chief law enforcement officer.
Sen. John Boozman is also confident about Sessions' chances.
During an interview Tuesday, the Republican from Rogers said he knows Sessions well; Sessions, a Methodist, and Boozman, a Southern Baptist, attend a weekly prayer breakfast together and have served together for six years.
The nominee is kind and well-liked on Capitol Hill, Boozman said, adding, "He's got friends, very good friends, on both sides of the aisle."
Boozman, 66, said Sessions, 70, was just a kid when segregation began to crumble.
Although Sessions' critics have questioned his commitment to civil rights, Boozman said he's never seen any evidence that Sessions harbors racial biases.
"He grew up in the South, as I did. ... We're the ones that went through the integration process in the schools," Boozman said.
Their generation helped dismantle segregation, Boozman said.
"I think we've really been the change agents to help improve things," he added.
The senator predicted the confirmation hearings would clear up some of the doubts about Sessions.
"There's concerns. I think those concerns will be answered. But at the end of the day, he will get the 51 votes that he needs to be confirmed and I think he will make an excellent attorney general," Boozman said.
Former U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson, Arkansas' first Republican U.S. senator since Reconstruction, shared that assessment.
"He was one of my closest friends in the U.S. Senate," Hutchinson said. "I hurt for him to see the way he's been mischaracterized and smeared."
Ultimately, a majority of Sessions' colleagues will support him, Hutchinson predicted.
"The Democrats who are criticizing him ... many of them have been there with him for a long time. They know him and they know he's a good person with good character and he's not a bigot and he's not a racist and he'll be confirmed as attorney general," Hutchinson added.
Two Arkansas Democrats who served with Sessions, former U.S. Sens. Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln, did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
A Section on 01/11/2017