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Sessions Pressed on Lack of Diversity at the Justice Department

Sessions Pressed on Lack of Diversity at the Justice Department

(Bloomberg) -- Attorney General Jeff Sessions acknowledged Tuesday that he’s recommended only one black candidate to be a U.S. attorney, one of the highest-profile positions in the Justice Department.

That’s out of 53 U.S. attorneys nominated so far by President Donald Trump, according to the department.

While the attorney general’s testimony Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee was dominated by questions about the probe into Russian meddling in last year’s presidential campaign, Democrats also pressed Sessions over the lack of diversity in his department’s top ranks. Sessions, who agreed that diversity matters, also acknowledged he didn’t know how many special agents were in charge of FBI field offices.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Strohm in Washington at cstrohm1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert

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